Jake Paul To Enter Sports Betting Business After Raising $50m In Funding

Social media star Jake Paul is entering the world of sports betting sites after raising $50m in funds to set up his own micro-betting brand.

Micro-betting is a growing market within the sportsbook sector. It allows users to place wagers on individual moments throughout events that do not rely on the final outcome of the event itself.

The $50 million raised for Paul’s company, Betr, includes investments from a number of famous faces such as Travis Scott, Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant and Richard Sherman. The venture also has backing from The $50 million funding round for his company, Betr, was led by Florida Funders, Aliya Capital Partners and Fuel Venture Capital.

Paul will be responsible for the media side of Betr, while the gambling operations will be headed by Joey Levy, who co-founded Simplebet. He also assumes the role of Betr Chief Executive Officer.

“I co-founded Simplebet to simplify the sports betting user experience – to reconsider why sports betting products felt uninterpretable to the casual fan who had never bet on sports before,” said Levy.

“In doing so, we discovered that the technology required to enable a scalable micro-betting platform around the moments that drive U.S. sports did not yet exist, given the global market’s focus was on soccer, a fluid sport without a natural start and stop cadence. So we decided to build it ourselves at Simplebet; however, years later, the user experience remains unintuitive for a mass market consumer.”

Paul added: “I wasn’t into sports betting until I was introduced to micro-betting. Micro-betting is the TikTok-ification of sports betting and I am excited to bring it to the masses through Betr.

“We are in this for the long haul and are focused on doing things the right way. We are getting licensed state-by-state, adhering to each state’s regulatory framework while advocating for important consumer protections and responsible gambling. We want to be the category-defining consumer company in both sports betting and sports media by the end of the decade and are confident we will achieve that goal.”

Paul’s introduction to the sports betting world also aligns with his recent adventure in the world of professional boxing. The 25-year-old is 5-0 (4 KOs) as a professional fighter after defeating the likes of Nate Robinson, Ben Askren and Tyrone Woodley.

Most boxing betting sites offer odds on Paul’s fights and expect Betr to be the latest and to be given advertising rights throughout the promotion of his future bouts. His next opponent currently remains unclear after he saw his August 6 date at Madison Square Garden cancelled after fights with Tommy Fury and Hasim Rahman Jr both fell through.

Paul, who has more than 70 million followers across his social media platforms, was inspired to launch his sportsbook after previously being paid by operators to promote their services. Now, he claims, is time for a new era.

“They were paying me millions to promote their sportsbooks for my fights. They need the influencers. Now it’s our turn to take over from the dinosaurs.”