Sports betting innovator launches new start-up

17 November 2021
bit.ly
Share

close panel

Share page

Copy link

About sharing

By Douglas Fraser

Business and economy editor, Scotland

One of Scotland's most effective technology groups is starting once again with a new company - and has protected the biggest preliminary financial investment of any British start-up company.

BetDEX is being led by Nigel Eccles, who co-founded dream sports betting wagering website FanDuel in 2009 in Edinburgh.

The new firm has seed financing of $21m.

It intends to launch a new open source software platform, on which others can innovate in sports betting wagering, in the very first half of next year.

The company is recruiting personnel from a base in Scotland.

FanDuel was offered to Flutter - previously called Paddy - in 2018 and is now worth more than $30bn.

However, Mr Eccles and other co-founders are in legal dispute with FanDuel's later phase investors over the method which they structured a takeover, which left the Edinburgh group without a share of the increasing assessment.

Mr Eccles said that one thing he learned from the FanDuel experience was to choose investors thoroughly.

He told BBC Scotland: "We took a lot of lessons from that, one of which was the importance of who we select as financiers in this new organization, to guarantee their worths are lined up with ours, that they take their fiduciary tasks properly, and that they're the ideal partners for us."

The $21m seed funding for BetDEX consists of stakes taken by 7 backers of US technology firms, including 2 big funds - Paradigm and FTX - which specialise in investing in companies operating with crypto-currencies.

Varun Sudhakar, chief executive of BetDEX, said: "The sports betting wagering market charges high costs for bad products and limitations trades by its most effective users.

"BetDEX is diametrically opposed to this method. We will successfully complete versus incumbents with a markedly exceptional product and low charges, which is now possible with the advent of the blockchain technology."

As chairman of the new firm, Mr Eccles stated it might look familiar to retail punters utilized to existing online companies.

'Pool of skill'
bet9ja.com
However, he states that those who use its platform to run their own sports betting companies will be able to innovate and create a wider variety of wagering items.

He said the normal share taken by online bookies is 7% to 10% of a stake, but BetDEX ought to enable for that to fall below 1%.

The company will develop its own wagering apps to operate on the platform.

Mr Eccles stated these would take an "smart, thoughtful" technique to the method they are marketed to safeguard those who fight with problem gaming.

He stated the team of around 500 software engineers who helped construct FanDuel from Scotland revealed that it remains the place to build a company. BetDEX has the same head of innovation, Stuart Tonner.

"A great deal of that [FanDuel] success was built on a highly knowledgeable, extremely talented engineering team, that developed this product that could process countless bets and countless users.

"There's a genuine talent swimming pool of skilled engineers who helped us develop our item which's what we wish to take advantage of for BetDEX too."

Related topics

Edinburgh
bit.ly
sports betting wagering

More on this story
bit.ly
Paddy Power purchases fantasy sports betting website

23 May 2018

FanDuel founder leaves company
bet9ja.com
Published

20 November 2017
bet9ja.com