DraftKings swoops for pricing specialists Sports IQ

DraftKings has acquired odds and pricing firm Sports IQ Analytics in a move to strengthen its online sports betting offering.

Sports IQ CEO Omer Dor confirmed DraftKings had bought the business via a post on LinkedIn, with a DraftKings spokesperson confirming the deal to EGR.

The DraftKings spokesperson said: “DraftKings can confirm it has acquired Sports IQ, a leading provider of advanced sports betting markets and trading tools to further optimize the dynamic betting markets already in place.”

Sports IQ was founded in 2018 by Dor and his colleagues Matthew Belzberg, Jose Alfaro, and Andrew Schwartz.

Dor serves as the firm’s CEO and Belzberg as CTO, while Alfaro has spent the last six years as chief data officer.

Schwartz become chair of the Vancouver-based business in 2020.

The group secured $7m in series seed funding back in 2021 with backing from The Kraft Group and former Caesars Digital head Mitch Garber.

While Dor did not reveal any of the financial information relating to the transaction, he did give thanks to both Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt and Tekkorp Capital for their advice and guidance during the process.

Taking to LinkedIn, Dor thanked his co-founders and a host of other stakeholders for supporting the business and helping it reach this milestone.

He said: “I’m excited for this next chapter in the Sports IQ Analytics journey. In DraftKings, we join a team whose desire for winning and being the best matches our own. Thank you to [DraftKings CEO] Jason Robins, [DraftKings co-founder] Paul Liberman, and the entire team for welcoming us onboard.

“I feel privileged for the last six years, working alongside the incredible group of people that make the Sports IQ team. They are hardworking, intelligent, and passionate and I’m so excited that we get to bring our skills and energy to DraftKings.

“Thank you to my co-founders Matthew Belzberg, Jose Alfaro, and Andrew Schwartz for sharing this journey with me. For celebrating the good moments together and sticking by each other through the more challenging times.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the phenomenal investors, advisors, partners, and clients who supported our vision and provided guidance and experience in Sports IQ’s journey at every turn. I’d like to believe that every entrepreneur could only wish to be as lucky as I have been,” he added.

Last week, following DraftKings’s Q1 results publication, Robins was asked how the operator was able to manage its pricing strategies.

Robins said: “We are not trying to win on price, but we are also not trying to have worse pricing than anyone else out there. For most markets, the price is the price.”

However, the addition of pricing specialists Sports IQ could see this change. The move also comes after Entain agreed a deal worth up to £203m for pricing experts Angstrom Sports last year.

The firm is expected to turbocharge BetMGM’s sports betting efforts in the US.

Similarly, Fanatics’ $225m acquisition of PointsBet’s US operations was driven by the inclusion of Banach Technology, an odds pricing specialist the latter acquired for $43m in 2021.

Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King recently told EGR that “risk and trading are a huge part of providing a competitive product.”

Reacting to the news on LinkedIn, Acies Investments founder Chris Grove said: “A nice pickup for DraftKings and a great outcome for Omer Dor.

“Building things is hard. Building things that work is harder. Building things that work and meet an actual demand in the market at the time you’re ready to hit the market is the hardest thing of all.

“Congrats to the Sports IQ Analytics team and to DraftKings on another quality deal.

“The market leading position that DraftKings and FanDuel enjoy has to be re-earned every day, and constant upgrades to product are a big part of that process.”