In the United Kingdom and the co-founder of prominent sports data and analytics firm Stats Perform has announced that he will soon be launching the new PickGuru social gaming platform after securing some £2.6 million ($3.4 million) in seed funding.
Oliver Slipper used an official press release published by European Gaming Media and Events to declare that his latest endeavor is to serve as a ‘social gaming disruptor’ and has now received financial support from a number of ‘leading angels’ as it looks ‘to revolutionize the interaction between real-money wagering and live sport.’
Pioneering proposition:
PickGuru will be led by an experienced team also featuring Matulo Software Services Limited founder Paul Cobley and former Stats Perform director Paul Watkins. Slipper stated that the mobile-friendly enterprise is to ‘allow friends and fans to challenge each other in a wide variety of exciting sports prediction games’ in hopes of potentially bagging ‘big cash pots for small stakes’ via a selection of miniature leagues and nationwide competitions.
Financial facility:
Now set to serve as the Chairman for PickGuru, Slipper pronounced that his newest venture is scheduled to launch early next year with a focus on British sports and be powered by ‘seamless real-time data feeds’ while furthermore featuring leaderboards that ‘update dynamically as games progress’ to instantly ‘reward successful sports gurus with cash prizes’. The pioneer went on to add that the fresh funding will be utilized ‘to launch and scale’ his new enterprise with help from ‘some of the most successful sports entrepreneurs’ in the United Kingdom such as Masomo Limited co-founder and past Paddy Power brand director Adam Perrin and the two men behind London-headquartered sports marketing agency Pitch International, Jon Youell and Jon Owen.
Read a statement from Slipper…
“I certainly didn’t expect things to take off less than a year after sending out a simple game to friends but the massive popularity of it convinced me that I was onto something. Following months of hard graft and huge investment, we’re proud to be building the first United Kingdom-focused platform that uniquely combines elements of fantasy sports, gaming and live action and strongly believe users will love the result.”
Employment effort:
Slipper finished by disclosing that the list of ‘angels’ who have decided to invest in PickGuru runs to Global Cycling Network founder Simon Wear alongside Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham from recent unicorn Marshmallow with the enterprise now looking to immediately fill ten full-time roles across a range of development, marketing and compliance positions before hiring a further 20 people over the course of the next twelve months.
Slipper’s statement read…
“I’m delighted that some of the most successful sports entrepreneurs shared our vision and I thank them for backing our ambitious plans for the business.”