Sports Gear Firm Fanatics Plans Sports Betting Push As Valuation Soars 15% Despite Market Downturn

Fanatics has received around $700 million from a group of new and current investors in a round that values the firm at $31 billion.

The proceeds of the investment, according to The Walll Street Journal, will be set aside for strategic M&A.

In addition to LionTree, the round was priced and managed by a new investor, Clearlake Capital. Silverlake, Fidelity and Softbank are among the current investors in the latest round.

What's Next For Fanatics? The funds will be used to assist Fanatics develop across its divisions, including its soon-to-be-launched sports betting and gaming company, rather than to support day-to-day operations.

The company intends to conduct an IPO in the future, but will wait until some of its newest business lines are more established.

Fanatics Collectibles, a division of the company that includes a trading card business, kicked off last year, as well as a smaller division that offers sports-related nonfungible tokens, or NFTs.

The division is on track to generate approximately $1 billion in sales this year, a figure that is expected to rise as more of its exclusive trading card deals with players' unions and leagues such as the NFL and the NBA come into effect over the next few years.

Fanatics' sports betting operation, according to CEO Michael Rubin, will launch in the spring of 2023 and will be in more than 15 states before the start of the next football season.

Read also: You Won't Believe How Much This $20 Parlay Bet On NFL Conference Championship Scores Paid Out

Fanatics would compete with Penn Entertainment PENN, DraftKings Inc DKNG and Flutter Entmt ADR PDYPY.

Previously, Fanatics was valued at $27 billion. The company raised $1.5 billion in March, managed by Fidelity, Blackrock and MSD Partners.

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