FANDUEL, the fantasy sports specialist, has sealed its second acquisition in a month after snapping up numberFire, a US sports analytics platform.
New York-based numberFire uses mathematical modelling and quantitative analysis to predict player and team performance.
The acquisition comes just weeks after FanDuel took over fellow Edinburgh-based company Kotikan, which developed mobile apps for FanDuel’s fantasy league products.
And it was announced just days after FanDuel co-founder and chief executive Nigel Eccles signalled that the company remained hungry for acquisitions.
He told The Herald this week that the company, which received a $275 million funding injection from investors such as private equity giant KKR, Google Capital and Time Warner Investments in July, was “on the look-out” for people or companies offering technology and skills that could contribute to the company’s development.
The value of the numberFire deal was not disclosed.
Mr Eccles said: “NumberFire’s demonstrated ability to grow a business around sports data, engage their users, create compelling content and support the fantasy industry makes them an ideal complement to FanDuel.
“It’s our intention to build a multi-platform sports entertainment company, and joining numberFire and FanDuel creates the opportunity to meaningfully grow both businesses while providing fantasy sports users the best tools around.”
NumberFire bills, which has more than 250,000 members, said it simplifies the process of crunching statistics to provide accurate predictions to the fantasy sports market.
Its editorial team in New York works with more than 65 contributors to deliver “data-driven analysis”. The data is published on its website, with analytics and tools available to sports fans through subscriptions and media companies via licensing.
Content is provided to the likes of ESPN, USA Today and Sports Illustrated.
FanDuel said the numberFire site will remain in operation and that it will invest in the company’s revenue streams. It said its data will eventually be incorporated into FanDuel’s platform to increase user engagement and expand the product offer to consumers.
Nik Bonaddio, chief executive and founder of numberFire, said: “NumberFire’s goal has always been to make sports fans smarter, and FanDuel’s mission is to make sports more exciting. The businesses are a cultural fit.
“NumberFire’s consistent growth is directly correlated to the rise of the daily fantasy industry and uniting our teams will propel the sports analytics and fantasy industry forward.”
With 10 staff joining from numberFire, FanDuel’s headcount had grown to 386 staff. Of that number, 145 are based in the UK and well in excess of 200 are in the US, with 40 staff joining its office in Orlando from gaming firm Zynga this year. FanDuel is set to open a Glasgow office.
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