Oliver Bierhoff invests in start-up Sorare

The start-up Sorare once again convinces investors as a digital panini magazine. It received 40 million euros in a financing round. A German footballer had already invested in the past.

The world of sports is discovering a new form of investment: start-ups. For example, the current financing round of the fantasy football start-up Sorare includes several professional footballers: Ex-national player and DFB director Oliver Bierhoff is investing, as is French international Antoine Griezmann. However, nothing is known about the amount of the investments.

In total, Sorare raised €40 million in its Series A financing. The round was led by Benchmark Capital, joined by Accel Partners and two other business angels: US media entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck and Alexis Ohanian, one of the co-founders of the Reddit platform.

Sorare, founded in 2018, is a kind of digital Panini booklet: users can create a team of footballers as managers and compete against each other. Sorare buys image rights from 130 clubs worldwide, but player cards are limited. According to the company, the blockchain technology prevents fraud, thus ensuring that the cards are not copied. The stakes are sometimes very high. On 21 February 2021, for example, someone paid 120,000 dollars for a card of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The start-up says it is profitable, with monthly sales of 750,000 euros. This has already made some footballers' hearts beat faster in the past: In addition to VC Eventures and Partech, André Schürrle and the professional footballer Gerard Piqué are among the existing investors.