Omada, a Bordeaux-based not-sports-gambling game, has raised €7.1 million in a Seed funding round. The game, titled as a ‘social prediction mobile game for sports fans’ intends to use the investment to fuel international growth following a two-year run that’s netted the game 300,000 monthly players in France and 1 million worldwide.
The Seed round was led by Felix Capital with 20VC, Play Ventures, F4, Motier Ventures, and a host of angel investors including Xavier Niel, Tripledot Studios founder Akin Babayigit, Mediawan founder Pierre Antoine Capton, Australian cricket team captain Pat Cummins, and the family office of football legend Youri Djorkaeff.
“Omada is a brand, and a community that occupies a unique position within the App Store, at the intersection of gaming, social networking, sports and entertainment. Omada’s traction throughout the past 18 months reflects Gen Z’s desire to experience sport in an innovative way and immerse themselves in the communities of like-minded enthusiasts.
“What particularly stood out to us was their strong experience in gaming, combined with exceptional user retention and community engagement, in every country where they have established a presence.” - Julien Codorniou, Partner at Felix Capital
Founded and headed up by serial entrepreneur Adrien Miniatti who built and sold Green Panda Games to Ubisoft, Omada, or team in Greek for the linguists out there, is not a gambling or betting game. In fact, it’s angling to do just the opposite by providing a platform that allows for healthy sports team-related picking of winners without the seedy underworld of book maki, err, betting, involved.
Taking this compulsion breaking a bit further, the platform runs campaigns including "Ferme Ton Compte" (Operation close your betting account), "Lav'Omada" (Turning a Laundrette in the heart of Paris into the ultimate World Cup experience), and "10 balles c'est grand-chose" ("10 euros is a lot" - a reference to the average bet in France).
“'I look for category-defining entrepreneurs who can reshape an industry. No one epitomises this more than Adrien, wise beyond his years, one of the savviest operators and the individual to change this industry moving forward." - Harry Stebbings, founder at 20VC
Instead of rewarding and using fiat money, Omada has gained traction amongst a GenZ audience that places predictions on the outcomes of football, NFL, NHL, NBA, tennis, Japanese baseball, and F1 games/races via a daily distribution of what it's calling “coins” and a ranking system.
The €7.1 million investment will help Omada push further into the US market, where the platform has already gained traction, least of which, bolstered by the return to the NFL season, and presumably the NHL pre-season which kicked off this past Saturday, September 23rd.
Lead image: Photo by Luis Fallas
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