MATTHEW BERRY’S FANTASY LIFE CLOSES $2 MILLION STRATEGIC SEED ROUND
INVESTOR POOL INCLUDES LRMR VENTURES, CASEY WASSERMAN, JOSH ALLEN, JOE BURROW, TONY KHAN, ROGER EHRENBERG, JOHN LEGEND, CHAD HURLEY, and GEORGE PYNE
Strategic Investment to Expand Fantasy and Betting Content Across All Platforms
NEW YORK - August 15, 2023 - FantasyLife, the fastest growing fantasy sports and sports betting media company founded by Matthew Berry, today announced the closing of a $2 million dollar friends and family round from strategic investors, including:
- Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills, fantasy football superstar
- Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals, fantasy football superstar
- Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals, fantasy football superstar
- Roger Ehrenberg, Co-Owner of the Miami Marlins and Real Salt Lake, Founder Eberg Capital, 2021 Forbes Midas Touch List as Top Tech Investor
- Austin Ekeler, RB, Los Angeles Chargers, fantasy football superstar
- Chris Grove, Partner of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming
- Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and former CEO of YouTube
- Tony Khan, Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham Football Club, All Elite Wrestling, and TruMedia Networks
- LRMR Ventures, the family office of global icon LeBron James and entrepreneur and CEO Maverick Carter
- John Legend, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award Winner
- Kip Levin, CEO FoxBet, former CEO of Flutter's US business, former President/COO FanDuel
- George Pyne, CEO of Bruin Capital
- Alec Scheiner, Founder of Otro Capital, former Partner, RedBird Capital, former President, Cleveland Browns
- Jason Stein, Managing Partner of SC Holdings
- Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of Wasserman Media Group
Fantasy Life (named after Berry’s New York Times Best-Selling book) began as a daily email newsletter that informs over 350,000 subscribers what they need to know about fantasy and sports betting in a five-minute read. The company launched FantasyLife.com, an industry leading website with over two million unique monthly visitors, that offers 100 percent free tools and content like Projections, Free NFL Bets, Prop Tables, a suite of Data Tools, the first robust Best Ball Hub, NFL Player and Team Pages, and a new fantasy league punishment generator. All of that plus Rankings from a team of analysts that have won independent accuracy challenges give users the ultimate fantasy and betting experience.
“One of the primary reasons I came to NBC Sports was their promise to allow me to continue to operate Fantasy Life, and they’ve been incredible from the start,” said Fantasy Life founder Matthew Berry. “Going from working with and in some cases, actually drafting to my fantasy teams some of the most respected entrepreneurs and superstars in the world of sports and entertainment to now having them invested in my life’s mission of helping people win their leagues and bets is truly incredible. I have loved every second of the last year with the Fantasy Life team, bootstrapping our way to profitability and can’t wait to continue to build on that success.”
Co-Founder and CEO of The SpringHill Company Maverick Carter, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, and Wasserman Media Agency Chairman and CEO Casey Wasserman will also be joining the Advisory Board to guide Fantasy Life in becoming a top sports media brand. The Board is comprised of 15 industry-leading business and media executives, including:
- Ryan Detert and Chris Detert, CEO and CCO of Influential
- Matthew Hiltzik, CEO of Hiltzik Strategies
- John Kosner, four-decade sports media veteran, former head of ESPN digital, advisor to Apple News
- Dave Nemetz, Co-Founder of Bleacher Report
- Geoff Reiss, Launched ESPN.com and ESPN Fantasy; former Yahoo Sports GM
- Austin Rief, Co-Founder and CEO of Morning Brew
- Adam Ryan, CEO of Workweek & former President of The Hustle
- Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of theSkimm
The media company produces content for a number of large media partners, including SiriusXM (a 5 day a week show from 11am ET to 1pm ET on their Fantasy Sports Radio channel) and Meta, where almost 600,000 people play Fantasy Life Pick n’ Play on Facebook.
“Fantasy Life sits at the intersection of three mega trends that drive our investment thesis: live sports; sports betting; and social engagement,” said Roger Ehrenberg, Fantasy Life investor and Managing Partner of Eberg Capital. “Matthew is a social media savant who has built a rabid community and is poised to take advantage of how people engage with and consume nextgen sports media.”
Fantasy Life is thrilled to announce major partnerships for 2023 with industry-leading brands such as Webex by Cisco as Official Technology & Collaboration Partner, Buffalo Wild Wings, Epic Seats, and the return of key partners BetMGM and Underdog Fantasy. The company is focused on developing strategic, long-term partnerships through its content and dedication to their users.
“We are providing the world’s biggest brands access to some of the most loyal and highly engaged audiences,” said Fantasy Life CEO Eliot Crist. “With sponsorships, brand integrations, and custom tools, Fantasy Life is focused on developing strategic, long-term partnerships through its content for all users. We are proud of the work we have accomplished and look forward to other A-List brands joining the Fantasy Life family.”
For more information on Fantasy Life or to sign up for their newsletter, visit FantasyLife.com. Follow @MBFantasyLife on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for updates and premier fantasy and betting content.
ABOUT FANTASY LIFE
At Fantasy Life, we empower all fantasy and betting enthusiasts to bring their game to the next level. Led by the godfather of Fantasy Football - Matthew Berry - our team of experts deliver the highest quality of fantasy and betting content found on the internet. Cultivating a vibrant fantasy and sports betting community, Fantasy Life delivers a one-stop-shop of unparalleled tools, content, data, and access, all for free. At Fantasy Life, we handle all the heavy lifting so you can spend time doing what matters most, winning your league and your bets!
ABOUT MATTHEW BERRY
Universally regarded as one of the leading voices in fantasy football, Matthew Berry, aka “The Talented Mr. Roto,” is the world's most-followed fantasy football analyst. Named the 2013 Marketer of the Year by the Academy of Marketing Science for his key role in fueling the national growth of fantasy football, Berry is a Fantasy Sports Gaming Association Hall - of - Famer.
Known for his famous “Love/Hate” column - one of the most widely read columns in all of sports, Berry is also a Sports Emmy Award winner for his work while at ESPN, where he spent 15 years as their Sr. Fantasy Football Analyst. Berry now appears regularly across NBC Sports & Peacock platforms including as an analyst on Football Night in America – the most watched weekly studio show in sports and the Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry, which debuted as #1 in sports podcasts on iTunes/Spotify and is consistently one of the most popular sports podcasts in the world.
Since Berry's involvement, NBC Sports' and Rotoworld's fantasy football and gaming social media platforms saw remarkable expansion. Video views surged by over threefold (up 222%) and new followers more than doubled (up 131%). He is a NY Times Best Seller for his book “Fantasy Life” and is the founder of TalentedMrRoto.com (sold to ESPN in 2007), co-founder of FantasyMovieLeague.com (sold to National CineMedia (NASDAQ: NCMI) in 2017) and founder of the Fantasy Life App, which he sold to Betsperts Media & Technology Group in 2021. @MatthewBerryTMR
CONTACT:
Fantasy Life: press@fantasylife.com
