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Sorare raises a €40m Series A from Benchmark and Accel Partners to help fans own their football passion online
Sorare, the digital collectible football platform, announces that it has received €40 million in Series A financing, led by Benchmark, with additional funding from Accel and new business angels. The angels include Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Vaynermedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, football players Antoine Griezmann and Rio Ferdinand. The financing brings Sorare’s total funding to €48 million. The capital will be used to fuel the growth of the community, accelerate the hiring of a world-class team and launch a mobile application.
Fantastically real collectibles
Football is a common denominator for more than 4 billion people globally but today, fans feel further away from the game they love than ever before. As we spend more time online, the need for connection has significantly shifted to digital experiences. Sports card collectibles have long helped fans celebrate their love of the game, and now they can experience a whole new world online. Sorare is leading the new era of online football fandom, where fans can live football moments and true connections like never before.
The company’s mission is to build “the game within the game” and to give fans the platform to celebrate, share and own their football passion. Through tradable digital cards, Sorare is designing a collective fantasy football experience where you can manage your favorite players and hone your passion to earn prizes. Anyone, anywhere, can connect with the beautiful game on Sorare.
Growing across the globe
The company, which is already profitable, has experienced an explosive 52% month-on-month growth over the past 12 months, going from €50K worth of cards traded on the platform in January 2020 to €3.5M in January 2021 across 120 countries.
More than 120 football clubs have launched their digital cards on Sorare, with all European Champions actively participating in the growth of the game. Partnerships with Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus make Sorare the first digital collectible platform to offer cards from Europe’s top five league champions. The company’s ambition is to onboard the top 20 football leagues globally. This next-generation gaming experience allows leagues and clubs to expand their international brand by reaching an untapped audience of fans. Sorare is effectively opening up a new traceable and sustainable revenue stream for them.
Crypto’s next consumer application
Sorare collectibles are backed by blockchain technology to provide transparency and portability into other games. More importantly, the blockchain Ethereum enables the act of collecting in the digital space by creating digital scarcity through “non-fungible tokens” (NFT). It secures the passion of fans and creates a new level of trust and freedom for gamers who can freely trade their assets over the internet.
Sorare joins the ranks of culturally impactful companies and innovative brands in the Benchmark and Accel portfolio, including Twitter, Snap, Instagram and Spotify.
Nicolas Julia, CEO at Sorare explained: “Sorare was born from our love for football. We’re building a gaming experience fueled by passion where fans can connect with football and a global community. On Sorare, they can truly own the game. Today is a watershed moment – both for Sorare as a company and for our community – that will enable us to touch new markets and radically improve our product to become the game within the beautiful game.”
Peter Fenton, General Partner at Benchmark commented: “We’re thrilled to partner with Sorare as their lead Series A investor. The company combines the global passion for football collectibles with the excitement of real-world play in fantasy league tournaments. The founders early work in blockchain technology gave them the unique insight into a killer application for a new NFT – real players in real games creating enduring value for a digital artifact. Their explosive growth codifies the utility of these technologies in everyday life.”
Andrei Brasoveanu, Partner at Accel added: “Sitting at the intersection of fantasy football and sports collectibles, Sorare is revolutionizing the way fans across the world engage with and enjoy sports. In just a year, Sorare has built an incredible viral community and secured partnerships with more than 130 football clubs, including five European Champions. This impressive growth is a testament to the ambition and determination of Nicolas, Adrien and the entire Sorare team. We’re excited to join Sorare on the next stage of their journey and help build the leading digital sports collectibles platform worldwide!”
Christian Miele, Partner at e.ventures, commented: “We have been impressed by Nicolas’ and Adrien’s vision from day one. For the first time in human history a digital collectible holds a utility and can be used in a wide field of applications to attract soccer fanatics, collectors, and investors alike. This is why Sorare is best positioned to create one of the largest next-generation entertainment companies in the world.”
Gerard Piqué, Strategic Advisor at Sorare, explained: “As world football has shifted from local supporters to global fanbases, football fans are looking for new ways to be connected to the game, the players and other fans. Nicolas and the team have a unique gaming experience with real-world impact, bringing fantasy to reality. I’m looking forward to helping the team and the Sorare community connect with more football clubs and leagues.”
Sia Houchangnia, Partner at Seedcamp, concluded: “Sorare is a truly category-defining company and has the potential to become one of the biggest consumer tech success stories out of Europe. In less than 2 years since our pre-seed investment, the Sorare team has built from scratch a complex economy within an incredibly compelling game. Most importantly, Sorare can count on one of the most vibrant communities of early adopters we’ve ever seen. The growth has been astonishing and there’s an entire ecosystem of games and content being built around Sorare’s football cards. This is one of the most exciting businesses we’ve had the chance to work with and we are incredibly excited to have Benchmark and Accel joining the journey.”
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Following Meta’s algorithm updates, many media buying teams found it much more difficult to scale Facebook traffic. Customer acquisition costs increased, advertising accounts became less stable, and even successful campaign combinations lost their effectiveness faster.
In the new Success Story, N1 Partners explains how they helped a media buying team specializing in Facebook traffic for the iGaming vertical adapt to changing market conditions and successfully scale traffic acquisition across Tier-1 GEOs.
The results after nine months of collaboration were impressive: a 155% increase in FTDs, 135% ROI, and a 22% reduction in average CPA.
About partner
The featured partner is a media buying team with four years of experience in affiliate marketing, specializing in Facebook traffic acquisition for iGaming products.
At the beginning of the partnership, the team was already working with Tier-1 GEOs, including Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. They consistently identified profitable campaign combinations but encountered the typical scaling limitations faced by many teams in the industry.
To continue growing, they needed a partner offering high-quality products with strong Reg2Dep and LTV performance, reliable payouts, and responsive support capable of handling increasing traffic volumes.
Why did they choose N1 Partners?
Several factors influenced their decision:
- High Reg2Dep rates;
- Strong player LTV performance;
- Reliable and consistent payouts;
- Fast and responsive affiliate manager support;
- The ability to work with multiple brands within a single ecosystem.
For the initial testing phase, the team selected N1 Bet, RollXO, Lucky Hunter, and Retro Bet.
| “Working with several brands at the same time gave the team much greater flexibility. Whenever one product started losing performance, we could quickly redirect traffic to another brand without interrupting our buying activity,” explained Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Preparing for launch
Before launching the campaigns, N1 Partners specialists analyzed the partner’s previous performance and proposed a structured testing plan.
Instead of focusing on a single offer, they decided to test multiple brands simultaneously. This approach allowed them to identify much faster which products performed best with Facebook traffic in each GEO.
At the start, the partner also received several recommendations:
- Start with the CPA payment model;
- Separate advertising campaigns by audience type;
- Build dedicated landing pages for each GEO instead of using one universal funnel;
- Test broad audiences without narrow interest-based targeting;
- Use multiple creative formats;
- Evaluate not only registration costs but also the quality of acquired players.
This strategy helped identify promising campaign combinations early while preventing unnecessary spending on underperforming campaigns.
Choosing GEOs, offers and creatives
N1 Partners affiliate manager shared internal performance data highlighting products that consistently delivered strong results with Facebook traffic.
For the first stage, three high-potential GEOs with stable demand were selected:
- Canada;
- Germany;
- New Zealand.
Australia was intentionally excluded from the initial testing phase to concentrate the available budget on fewer markets and collect meaningful data more quickly.
Offers were selected primarily based on two key metrics: deposit conversion rate and player quality. Among all available brands, the selected products consistently demonstrated the strongest overall performance.
For every GEO, the team created special creatives featuring localized visual elements and market-specific bonus offers.
Workflow organization
After launch, specialists from N1 Partners worked alongside the partner on a daily basis, analyzing campaign performance and deciding on the next optimization steps.
| “Regular data sharing allowed us to detect changes almost immediately. We didn’t wait until the end of the week, we adjusted offers, budgets, and creatives as soon as we saw a consistent performance signal,” noted Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Teams closely monitored:
- Reg2Dep and LTV;
- Player quality;
- Budget allocation between products;
- Individual GEO performance;
- Results of newly launched creatives.
Most operational questions were resolved by the affiliate manager within a few hours. This allowed the partner to quickly switch offers and launch additional tests without interrupting traffic acquisition.
Initial hypotheses
During the preparation phase, N1 Partners suggested testing several working hypotheses:
- Video creatives could outperform static banners;
- Different advertising concepts might attract audiences of different quality;
- Rapid budget increases could reduce campaign stability;
- Evaluating traffic solely based on acquisition cost does not reflect its actual value.
The team tested lifestyle creatives, game-focused concepts, bonus offers, and social proof elements. Budgets were increased gradually, while campaign performance was evaluated not only by CPA but also by player behavior after making their first deposit.
| “The ability to compare several brands simultaneously played a crucial role. Whenever statistics indicated a decline in traffic quality, we suggested another product or reallocated the budget. This helped maintain acquisition momentum without relying on a single offer,” commented Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Strategy and optimization
After the initial testing phase, the team focused on increasing traffic volumes without compromising player quality.
To achieve this, the partner:
- Duplicated the highest-performing campaigns;
- Regularly launched new creatives;
- Split campaigns by device type;
- Applied successful approaches to markets with similar audience characteristics.
At the same time, budgets were increased gradually, helping maintain campaign stability while keeping CPA within the target range.
What delivered the best results?
Four optimization strategies produced the strongest performance improvements:
- Creative localization;
- Continuous production of fresh advertising materials;
- Pausing underperforming campaign combinations within the first 48 hours;
- Optimizing based on player quality rather than CPA alone.
At one stage of the campaign, the affiliate manager noticed that one of the brands was achieving a significantly higher Reg2Dep rate from Facebook traffic in Canada.
After jointly reviewing the data, part of the advertising budget was shifted toward that product.
| “The decision was based on more than just the number of deposits. We also evaluated player LTV and repeated activity. After reallocating the budget, profitability increased, and further scaling became much more stable,” said Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Results
After nine months of collaboration, every key performance indicator improved significantly.
- Monthly FTDs increased from 450 to 1,150 (+155%);
- ROI increased from 86% to 135%;
- Average CPA decreased by 22%;
- Revenue increased by approximately 2.5 times;
- Player LTV increased by 25%.
The most important achievement was not a single successful campaign but the creation of a sustainable Facebook traffic acquisition model. The partner was able to continuously scale traffic across Tier-1 GEOs without experiencing a proportional increase in acquisition costs.
Key takeaways
- What was the biggest advantage of working with N1 Partners?
According to the media buying team, working with N1 Partners helped establish a clear and scalable traffic acquisition process.
The main contributing factors were high-quality products, strong Reg2Dep performance, and constant communication with the affiliate manager. The team also emphasized that N1 Partners specialists proactively suggested new testing hypotheses before market changes began noticeably affecting campaign performance. This allowed them to stay ahead of industry trends instead of reacting only after performance had already declined.
- What made the results possible?
Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners: “The biggest factor behind our success was the partner’s willingness to continuously test new approaches. We evaluated not only Facebook campaign metrics but also player quality for every brand and GEO. This enabled us to redistribute budgets quickly and focus on the most promising campaign combinations.
After launching localized creatives and testing new audiences, the number of FTDs in Canada nearly doubled within just a few weeks, while campaign ROI remained stable. This clearly demonstrated the importance of continuous testing, fast analytics, and close collaboration between both teams”.
Scale your Facebook traffic with N1 Partners!
N1 Partners gives affiliates access to:
- 14+ casino and betting brands with high Reg2Dep
- 10+ Tier-1 GEOs
- CPA up to €700 and RevShare up to 55% + NNCO for top partners
Be number one with N1!
The post FB Success Story +155% FTD, 135% ROI appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Following Meta’s algorithm updates, many media buying teams found it much more difficult to scale Facebook traffic. Customer acquisition costs increased, advertising accounts became less stable, and even successful campaign combinations lost their effectiveness faster.
In the new Success Story, N1 Partners explains how they helped a media buying team specializing in Facebook traffic for the iGaming vertical adapt to changing market conditions and successfully scale traffic acquisition across Tier-1 GEOs.
The results after nine months of collaboration were impressive: a 155% increase in FTDs, 135% ROI, and a 22% reduction in average CPA.
About partner
The featured partner is a media buying team with four years of experience in affiliate marketing, specializing in Facebook traffic acquisition for iGaming products.
At the beginning of the partnership, the team was already working with Tier-1 GEOs, including Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. They consistently identified profitable campaign combinations but encountered the typical scaling limitations faced by many teams in the industry.
To continue growing, they needed a partner offering high-quality products with strong Reg2Dep and LTV performance, reliable payouts, and responsive support capable of handling increasing traffic volumes.
Why did they choose N1 Partners?
Several factors influenced their decision:
- High Reg2Dep rates;
- Strong player LTV performance;
- Reliable and consistent payouts;
- Fast and responsive affiliate manager support;
- The ability to work with multiple brands within a single ecosystem.
For the initial testing phase, the team selected N1 Bet, RollXO, Lucky Hunter, and Retro Bet.
| “Working with several brands at the same time gave the team much greater flexibility. Whenever one product started losing performance, we could quickly redirect traffic to another brand without interrupting our buying activity,” explained Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Preparing for launch
Before launching the campaigns, N1 Partners specialists analyzed the partner’s previous performance and proposed a structured testing plan.
Instead of focusing on a single offer, they decided to test multiple brands simultaneously. This approach allowed them to identify much faster which products performed best with Facebook traffic in each GEO.
At the start, the partner also received several recommendations:
- Start with the CPA payment model;
- Separate advertising campaigns by audience type;
- Build dedicated landing pages for each GEO instead of using one universal funnel;
- Test broad audiences without narrow interest-based targeting;
- Use multiple creative formats;
- Evaluate not only registration costs but also the quality of acquired players.
This strategy helped identify promising campaign combinations early while preventing unnecessary spending on underperforming campaigns.
Choosing GEOs, offers and creatives
N1 Partners affiliate manager shared internal performance data highlighting products that consistently delivered strong results with Facebook traffic.
For the first stage, three high-potential GEOs with stable demand were selected:
- Canada;
- Germany;
- New Zealand.
Australia was intentionally excluded from the initial testing phase to concentrate the available budget on fewer markets and collect meaningful data more quickly.
Offers were selected primarily based on two key metrics: deposit conversion rate and player quality. Among all available brands, the selected products consistently demonstrated the strongest overall performance.
For every GEO, the team created special creatives featuring localized visual elements and market-specific bonus offers.
Workflow organization
After launch, specialists from N1 Partners worked alongside the partner on a daily basis, analyzing campaign performance and deciding on the next optimization steps.
| “Regular data sharing allowed us to detect changes almost immediately. We didn’t wait until the end of the week, we adjusted offers, budgets, and creatives as soon as we saw a consistent performance signal,” noted Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Teams closely monitored:
- Reg2Dep and LTV;
- Player quality;
- Budget allocation between products;
- Individual GEO performance;
- Results of newly launched creatives.
Most operational questions were resolved by the affiliate manager within a few hours. This allowed the partner to quickly switch offers and launch additional tests without interrupting traffic acquisition.
Initial hypotheses
During the preparation phase, N1 Partners suggested testing several working hypotheses:
- Video creatives could outperform static banners;
- Different advertising concepts might attract audiences of different quality;
- Rapid budget increases could reduce campaign stability;
- Evaluating traffic solely based on acquisition cost does not reflect its actual value.
The team tested lifestyle creatives, game-focused concepts, bonus offers, and social proof elements. Budgets were increased gradually, while campaign performance was evaluated not only by CPA but also by player behavior after making their first deposit.
| “The ability to compare several brands simultaneously played a crucial role. Whenever statistics indicated a decline in traffic quality, we suggested another product or reallocated the budget. This helped maintain acquisition momentum without relying on a single offer,” commented Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Strategy and optimization
After the initial testing phase, the team focused on increasing traffic volumes without compromising player quality.
To achieve this, the partner:
- Duplicated the highest-performing campaigns;
- Regularly launched new creatives;
- Split campaigns by device type;
- Applied successful approaches to markets with similar audience characteristics.
At the same time, budgets were increased gradually, helping maintain campaign stability while keeping CPA within the target range.
What delivered the best results?
Four optimization strategies produced the strongest performance improvements:
- Creative localization;
- Continuous production of fresh advertising materials;
- Pausing underperforming campaign combinations within the first 48 hours;
- Optimizing based on player quality rather than CPA alone.
At one stage of the campaign, the affiliate manager noticed that one of the brands was achieving a significantly higher Reg2Dep rate from Facebook traffic in Canada.
After jointly reviewing the data, part of the advertising budget was shifted toward that product.
| “The decision was based on more than just the number of deposits. We also evaluated player LTV and repeated activity. After reallocating the budget, profitability increased, and further scaling became much more stable,” said Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners. |
Results
After nine months of collaboration, every key performance indicator improved significantly.
- Monthly FTDs increased from 450 to 1,150 (+155%);
- ROI increased from 86% to 135%;
- Average CPA decreased by 22%;
- Revenue increased by approximately 2.5 times;
- Player LTV increased by 25%.
The most important achievement was not a single successful campaign but the creation of a sustainable Facebook traffic acquisition model. The partner was able to continuously scale traffic across Tier-1 GEOs without experiencing a proportional increase in acquisition costs.
Key takeaways
- What was the biggest advantage of working with N1 Partners?
According to the media buying team, working with N1 Partners helped establish a clear and scalable traffic acquisition process.
The main contributing factors were high-quality products, strong Reg2Dep performance, and constant communication with the affiliate manager. The team also emphasized that N1 Partners specialists proactively suggested new testing hypotheses before market changes began noticeably affecting campaign performance. This allowed them to stay ahead of industry trends instead of reacting only after performance had already declined.
- What made the results possible?
Polina Bogatko, Affiliate Manager N1 Partners: “The biggest factor behind our success was the partner’s willingness to continuously test new approaches. We evaluated not only Facebook campaign metrics but also player quality for every brand and GEO. This enabled us to redistribute budgets quickly and focus on the most promising campaign combinations.
After launching localized creatives and testing new audiences, the number of FTDs in Canada nearly doubled within just a few weeks, while campaign ROI remained stable. This clearly demonstrated the importance of continuous testing, fast analytics, and close collaboration between both teams”.
Scale your Facebook traffic with N1 Partners!
N1 Partners gives affiliates access to:
- 14+ casino and betting brands with high Reg2Dep
- 10+ Tier-1 GEOs
- CPA up to €700 and RevShare up to 55% + NNCO for top partners
Be number one with N1!
The post FB Success Story +155% FTD, 135% ROI appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
The updated slot launches on Lottomart for UK players on 23rd July with a new bonus wheel and higher max win.
Blueprint Gaming is releasing an upgraded version of Super Graphics Upside Down exclusively on Lottomart from 23rd July, giving Lottomart’s UK players early access to the title.
Originally launched in 2021, Super Graphics Upside Down is being re-released with a new bonus wheel feature and an increased max win potential, rising from 250X to 3000X, according to the companies.
Chris Ruddock, Commercial Director at Lottomart, said:
“Securing an early release exclusive on the new Super Graphics Upside Down is another exciting milestone for Lottomart. Blueprint Gaming has upgraded a fantastic game with engaging new features and bigger win potential, and we’re delighted to offer this game exclusively to our UK players.”
Elliott Kyne, Account Manager at Blueprint Gaming, said:
“We’re delighted to support Lottomart with the exclusive UK launch of Super Graphics Upside Down. It’s also pleasing to see our partnership continue to go from strength to strength, and Lottomart’s impressive growth and UK focus has made them a match made in heaven for Blueprint’s content. We’re SUPER excited to bring this latest release to their players.”
The companies said the launch is part of their ongoing partnership, with Blueprint Gaming providing exclusive content as Lottomart expands its UK presence.
The post Blueprint Gaming upgrades Super Graphics Upside Down for Lottomart exclusive appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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