It has been quite a busy week for fantasy sports startups with local connections. First, Fortune reported that Draft Kings is in early talks with Disney about raising money that could value the Boston-based company at more than $1 billion. And today, former StarStreet founders, Jeremy Levine and Nicolo Giorgi announced that their new company has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding.
The new funds are for “Draft,” a mobile fantasy sports game that allows players to challenge each other in head-to-head competitions. This is the first institutional round for the New York City-based company, which has previously been funded by the proceeds from Cambridge-based StarStreet’s acquisition last year by Draft Kings.

Since it launched in December, Levine has described “Draft” as the daily fantasy sports version of the popular mobile game “Words With Friends.” For Levine, “Draft” is an opportunity for folks who may be overwhelmed by fantasy sports games like “Draft Kings” and “FanDuel” to have a fun, easy, and potentially money-making entry point into fantasy sports.

As part of its product, “Draft” lets users to put money on the line, between $1.50 and $55, that can be won as part of its head-to-head challenges. “Draft” has offered its challenges for NFL, NBA, and NHL games, and hopes to add golf and MLB options soon.

“Other games take long term commitments or time intensive hardcore drafts. ‘Draft’ is quick and simple,” said Levine. “There’s over 200 million sports fans in a America, and if you ask any of them why they don’t play fantasy sports, they say it’s because of the time commitment or effort involved. ‘Draft’ changes that.” Levine also added that the company will use the new funding to add new team members as it moves to a larger office in NYC’s Flatiron District.

Although he’s now based in New York City, Levine is still a very active investor in Boston tech as part of Bridge Boys, the angel investment group he started with fellow Cantabrigian and CoachUp president Jordan Fliegel.

The new Series A funding round was led by Upfront Ventures and included Advancit Capital, BoxGroup, The Chernin Group and QueensBridge Venture Partners, whose key investors include the rapper Nas.

“We’re are super excited about the potential for ‘Draft’ as they continue to innovate in the incredibly dynamic fantasy sports space,” said Upfront Ventures partner Greg Bettinelli in a statement.

“The emergence of daily fantasy sports and mobile has had an immediate impact on the way sports fans interact with their favorite players and teams and ‘Draft’ takes these behaviors to the next level.”

From: betaboston.com