The only platform that offers commission-free, peer-to-peer trading on sports in the United States, Novig, announced the completion of a funding round.
Recognized as America's #1 Sports Prediction Market, the platform, founded by Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, successfully closed an $18m Series A funding round.
Novig plans to use the new capital for product development and expansion
In a statement, Novig confirmed that the Series A funding round was led by Forerunner.
Moreover, existing investors such as NFX, Gaingels, Perceptive Ventures and Y Combinator also participated in the funding round.
Tapping into fresh capital, Novig revealed that it intends to broaden its reach in existing markets, while at the same time growing its coverage with the addition of new sports.
What's more, the fast-growing peer-to-peer sports trading platform intends to deliver new features for its growing customer base.
Such can include head-to-head trading, group contests, as well as leaderboards, among other new functionalities.
Novig also intends to grow its product and engineering teams, while launching a full-featured web app and supporting new payment methods.
Fawzi Itani, Principal at Forerunner, shared his excitement about the latest funding round.
"Novig sits at the center of several key secular trends in gaming and entertainment, namely that consumers increasingly are spending their time, energy, and attention with financial products," the executive said.
Finally, Itani pointed out: "The Novig team brings the most sophisticated and nuanced perspective to sports prediction markets. They not only deeply understand their target customer, but are building a system that is more fair, community-oriented, rewarding, and well, fun."
Back in June, Novig bolstered its C-suite by hiring Chris Staszak and Alex Wolf.
While the former was appointed to the role of Senior Legal Counsel, the latter was given the role of Chief Legal Officer.
Growing organically, Novig is the #1 sports prediction market in the US
Jacob Fortinsky, Novig's CEO and co-founder, spoke about the company's growing position in the sports vertical, offering a "true peer-to-peer market" and not just sports predictions.
He added that one of the core beliefs of Novig is the provision of a system that caters to its users who are also rewarded for their skill.
At the same time, according to Fortinsky, Novig offers every sports fan "a fair shot."
"We've quickly become the #1 sports prediction market in the US, and our organic growth speaks to the strength of our product and the passion of our community," the CEO and co-founder added.
Finally, Fortinsky pointed out: "The support from some of the world's leading tech investors, who believe in our mission to democratize sports betting for good, is a powerful endorsement—not just of what we've built, but of the future we're creating. This funding will allow us to scale our mission across more sports, more formats, and ultimately, to more users."
A major benefit of Novig is that it enables users to trade directly with each other, a model known as peer-to-peer.
This helps eliminate hidden fees, biased odds and at the same time removes the risk of penalties for winning.
With the peer-to-peer model, sports bettors effectively trade directly with one another instead of playing against the house.
