sports betting wagering innovator launches new start-up

17 November 2021
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By Douglas Fraser

Business and economy editor, Scotland

Among Scotland’s most effective technology teams is beginning again with a brand-new firm - and has actually protected the biggest initial financial investment of any British start-up business.

BetDEX is being led by Nigel Eccles, who co-founded fantasy sports betting wagering site FanDuel in 2009 in Edinburgh.

The brand-new firm has seed funding of $21m.

It aims to launch a new open source software application platform, on which others can innovate in sports betting, in the first half of next year.

The business is recruiting personnel from a base in Scotland.

FanDuel was sold to Flutter - formerly named Paddy Power Betfair - in 2018 and is now worth more than $30bn.

However, Mr Eccles and other co-founders are in legal conflict with FanDuel’s later phase financiers over the method which they structured a takeover, which left the Edinburgh group without a share of the rising assessment.

Mr Eccles said that one thing he gained from the FanDuel experience was to choose financiers carefully.
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He informed BBC Scotland: “We took a lot of lessons from that, one of which was the significance of who we select as investors in this new business, to guarantee their values are aligned with ours, that they take their fiduciary responsibilities properly, which they’re the best partners for us.”

The $21m seed financing for BetDEX consists of stakes taken by 7 backers of US innovation firms, including two large funds - Paradigm and FTX - which specialise in investing in companies running with crypto-currencies.

Varun Sudhakar, president of BetDEX, stated: “The sports betting market charges high costs for poor items and limitations trades by its most effective users.

“BetDEX is diametrically opposed to this approach. We will successfully complete versus incumbents with a markedly remarkable item and low charges, which is now possible with the arrival of the .”

As chairman of the brand-new company, Mr Eccles stated it could look familiar to retail punters used to existing online companies.

‘Pool of talent’

However, he says that those who use its platform to run their own sports betting firms will have the ability to innovate and produce a larger series of wagering products.

He said the normal share taken by online bookies is 7% to 10% of a stake, however BetDEX ought to permit that to fall listed below 1%.

The business will develop its own sports betting apps to run on the platform.

Mr Eccles stated these would take an “intelligent, thoughtful” technique to the method they are marketed to secure those who have a hard time with issue gaming.

He said the team of around 500 software engineers who helped develop FanDuel from Scotland revealed that it stays the location to develop a firm. BetDEX has the exact same head of innovation, Stuart Tonner.

“A lot of that [FanDuel] success was developed on an extremely experienced, really gifted engineering group, that built this product that could process millions of bets and countless users.

“There’s a real talent swimming pool of skilled engineers who helped us build our product which’s what we wish to utilize for BetDEX too.”

Related topics

Edinburgh

Sports betting

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Paddy Power purchases fantasy sports betting site

23 May 2018

FanDuel founder leaves business
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Published

20 November 2017
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