Paddy Power , son David Power , founder of the Irish bookmaker of the same name, announced plans to launch a "sports trading" platform American SportZ Exchange (ASX) according to Irish Independent .
ASX will operate from Ireland, but target the growing US sports betting market, and will initially be funded as a startup through a € 500,000 crowdfunding campaign using Dublin-based Spark Crowdfunding platform based on an estimate of € 4.5 million.
Development of the technology platform for ASX began in 2019. The beta was launched in 2020 and was subsequently selected to participate in Israel's Hype Accelerator program, an initiative aimed at helping sports tech startups build a club, league, brand and broadcaster partnership.
However, Power, who works as brand representative for his father's international betting operator, also confirmed that he is currently the main investor in the venture, and predicts that a "major" round of financing will not take place for at least a year.
Despite this prediction, Power also reported Irish Independent that, in his opinion, the virtual stock market will be worth about € 10 million over 18 months.
He commented: “Half a million euros would be great for an early stage startup and they would give us 12 to 18 months of work. A couple more people are interested in investing, which will bring funds up to about 1 million euros.
“Our big plan is to move on to the next round of fundraising as soon as possible. I would say that in the next round of fundraising, the company will be worth 10 million, and it will be careful, unlike me. "
The startup reportedly raised € 100,000 on Spark Crowdfunding within the first hour of fundraising, with some investors taking on financial commitments even before the campaign began.
Platform users will be able to buy or sell "shares" depending on how their predictions are regarding player or team performance, while live "share quotes" will also be offered to players and teams, depending on expected performance.
Power further informed The Irish Independent that "exclusive" partnerships have been secured with major North American sports teams, while the ASX.ai website is already accepting beta player requests.
Power remarked, “It's like a virtual stock exchange for players and teams,” Mr. Power told the Irish. Independent. Basically, we allow sports fans to make assumptions about the player's or team's performance. ”
He added: “There are opportunities for teams and clubs to declare that their fans are participating in this activity. They would like (fans) to stay on their site, not see them go off somewhere to do all this online activity. "
Among famous partners Philadelphia phillies and Toronto blue jays of Major League Baseball (MLB), National hockey league (NHL) Vegas golden knights , online sports service DAZN and Sinclair Broadcast Group - a branch of major media such as Fox and ABC - while the Canadian group Rogers media reportedly 'is under discussion
Power also initiated the recruitment process for a number of senior management positions at the new company. , saying, “I've been working on this myself for the last couple of years. but now it has come to the stage where I have to hand over the keys to adults. "
Mike Griffin , Commercial Director Racing Post , was credited as CEO of ASX, while Conall Flood , former head of electronic exchange technology at Banco santander also filled a vacancy. Additional positions were taken by, inter alia, former managers and employees of Paddy Power and Jp morgan .
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