Fan Controlled Football Raises $40 Million Series A Led by Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital

Animoca Brands, a company which has been bringing digital collectables to life since 2009, is leading the Series A investment round in Fan Controlled Football (FCF), an eSports platform that allows football fans to create their own club and compete against one another. The team behind FCF wants to bring real-world events into virtual environments by utilizing blockchain technology for its legitimate ownership of player data.

Fan Controlled Football is a new soccer management game that has raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. The company plans to use the funds to develop more games, grow its staff, and expand internationally.

12 January 2022, Los Angeles, United States Chainwire

Funding to Propel Continued Growth and Expansion of FCF for Seasons v2.0 & v3.0
The last two expansion teams, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Gutter Cat Gang Communities, join the league.

The $40 million Series A investment round headed by Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital has closed, according to Football Managed by Fans (FCF), the first professional sports league that allows fans to control important choices for their favorite club, including calling all plays in real-time.

In addition to Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital, additional investors include Sebastian Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, Gemini Frontier Fund, 6th Man Ventures, Jump Crypto, Red Beard Ventures, Spartan Capital, and NGC Ventures. Additionally, all of the league’s original Seed investors took part, including Basecamp Fund, Verizon Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Talis Capital.

With four clubs owned by some of the greatest personalities in sports and entertainment, including Marshawn Lynch, Quavo, Richard Sherman, Austin Ekeler, Dalvin Cook, and Bob Menery, FCF made its debut in February 2021. By fusing the excitement of fantasy sports, the engagement of live sports, and the interaction of video games into a live streaming, leaned-in fan experience, the league has reimagined football for the digital age. With over 10 million total live views during season v1.0, FCF became the Twitch live sports channel with the quickest growth and one of the most popular sports apps in the Apple App Store.

FCF today announced two new NFT-governed expansion teams, owned by leaders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Gutter Cat Gang communities, as part of the growth spurred by the conclusion of the $40 million Series A. The two new teams increase the number of FCF for Season v2.0 teams from four to eight, joining the first two FCF Ballerz Collective NFT expansion teams that were only just revealed.

The four new teams will all be a part of FCF’s ground-breaking Ballerz Collective, a first-of-its-kind NFT community that will give fans who have purchased FCF Ballerz NFTs access to team governance rights, play-to-earn game mechanics, and exclusive IRL utility and VIP experiences at FCF’s soon-to-be-unveiled cutting-edge venue in Atlanta, Georgia. The NFT teams from Ballerz Collective include:

King BlackBored, Dr. Dicatrio, Vivek Ravishanker, SpottieWiFi, and former NFL great Jamal Anderson are the leaders of the Gutter Cat Gang community team.
TropoFarmer, Josh Ong, Jerseyborn, Franklin, Lindsey Byrnes, BenJammin, NFTsAnonymous, Jeff Nicholas, and Spr3adsh33t are members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community with team ownership.
The Knights of Degen are headed by its founding members and neighborhood residents, including NFL stars Tiki and Ronde Barber, Jerry Ferrara, Cynthia Frelund from the NFL Network, Jasmine Maietta from Round21, Drew Austin, and more.
Steve Aoki, a well-known singer and producer, and 888, a renowned collector and the inventor of 888 Inner Circle and 888 The New World, are the leaders of Team 8OKI, a blockchain advocacy group with the goal of empowering artists, producers, and the online community for digital art.

Each of these communities’ NFT owners will have the chance to get one of 2,000 free FCF Ballerz NFTs for their team as well as advance access to buy an FCF Baller at a discount of 50% off the public sale price. Follow the Ballerz Collective on Twitter and sign up for the FCF Discord to join the squad and participate in the game.

The Beasts, Glacier Boyz, Wild Aces, and Zappers are the four initial FCF teams. After beating the Glacier Boyz in “The People’s Championship” on a last-second, walk-off QB read-option touchdown called by the crowd on March 20, the Wild Aces went on to become the first-ever FCF Champions.

FCF’s games are played in an Atlanta multi-purpose studio arena and televised live on Twitch, NBCLX, Peacock, and DAZN. They were designed with the digital fan in mind. On April 16, 2022, the next nine-week season will get underway with eight teams that are loaded with pro-caliber athletes from the NFL, CFL, and NCAA schools. NFL talents Josh Gordon and Robert Turbin, as well as Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, were on the rosters for the previous season.

Sohrob Farudi, co-founder and CEO of Football Managed by Fans, said: “Today is a momentous day for FCF. Our early achievements and the idea to create the first professional sports league for the digital era are further validated by the support of investors like web3 industry heavyweights Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. FCF creates an innovative IRL meets URL entertainment experience that was previously impossible by fusing the fervor and thrill of conventional football with the best of web3, digital collectibles, and play-to-earn gaming. We are excited about Seasons v2.0 and v3.0 of FCF since many new football leagues never make it to that point. LFG!”

We’re thrilled to sponsor FCF, a league that is at the forefront of bringing Web 3.0 and blockchain to professional sports, said Yat Siu, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Animoca Brands. We anticipate the innovative ways that viewers will be able to interact with FCF in the forthcoming seasons after seeing its successful and enjoyable first season.

Famed musician and producer Steve Aoki, owner of the FCF NFT Expansion Team: “The remarkable advancements that FCF is making inside web3 are exciting… Being engaged is an honor. Really looking forward to growing our NFT community of dedicated supporters who will make all the decisions for our team.

NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, owner of the Beasts: Beasts co-owner Marshawn Lynch said, “FCF is getting they money up, securing them $40 M’s, and we ready for seasons 2, 3, and some mo.” And a special thanks to the Gutter Cat Gang and Bored Ape Yacht Club members for cooperating with our FCF family. These are the relationships that signal to you that we are not playing around. I’m eager to watch how the NFT initiative raises the bar for fan participation in the “game,” you feel me?

Regarding Football Under Fan Control

Football Managed by Fans (FCF) – the only professional sports league that combines the passion and competitiveness of live and fantasy sports with the interactivity of video games – is the first league in professional sports history empowering fans to call the shots, from branding and personnel decisions to real-time play calling. The FCF is the democratization of sports with Season v2.0 expanding to eight (8) teams kicking off in the Spring of 2022, featuring seven regular-season weeks and one playoff week, culminating with the People’s Championship. On twitch.tv/FCF and via broadcast partners NBCLX, Peacock, and DAZN, fans can watch regular season and playoff games as well as special behind-the-scenes league material. Download the FCF mobile app, go to FCF.io, and join the discussion on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Discord for additional information.

Contacts

Kirsch, Bryan
Football Managed by Fans
[email protected]

Fan Controlled Football is a new startup that allows users to control their football games. The company has raised $40 million in its Series A led by Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. Reference: fan controlled football valuation.