The mobile fantasy sports market is blossoming and consolidating.
TheScore, a developer of mobile sports platforms, announced Friday that it has acquired mobile daily sports game Swoopt from its creator, ApptheGame.
As we noted in a story about King of the Hill Sports this morning, an estimated 41 million players engage with fantasy sports in North America, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Those players spend an average of $111 a year on fantasy sports, and a bunch of startups have begun chasing that business on mobile platforms.
Toronto-based TheScore already has 9.2 million average monthly active users on its mobile platforms for its own fantasy sports games. By acquiring Swoopt from San Francisco’s ApptheGame, TheScore has a new entry in the daily fantasy sports game market.
The deal includes Swoopt’s mobile application and web offering and the four members of its San Francisco-based product development and leadership team. The purchase price isn’t public, but the deal included both cash and stock.
“Like TheScore, Swoopt was created as a mobile first product and this deal equips us to enter the exciting daily fantasy sports market,” said John Levy, the founder and CEO of TheScore, in a statement. “Swoopt’s approach to daily fantasy sports, featuring mobile friendly contests that can be joined and managed quickly and easily, made this a great opportunity – especially with daily fantasy enjoying a clear fit with sports fans using theScore’s mobile platforms.”
Swoopt offers a range of daily fantasy sports contests for professional baseball, hockey, football, basketball and college football. ApptheGame developed the Swoopt game with venture funding from Douglas Bergeron, Tandem Capital, i/o Ventures, Sand Hill Angels, and other investors.
“TheScore is a leader in developing mobile sports experiences and this deal provides Swoopt with the expertise and resources required to take our game to the next level,” ApptheGame CEO Matthew Himelstein said in a statement.