Social betting app eyes global market as it looks to raise £2m seed funding
Circl, a new social betting app launched in Manchester recently, is eyeing the US market as it aims to raise £2m in seed funding for the next stage of its growth.
The company recently launched on Apple and Google stores after clinching £375,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by Dutch Sport Tech Fund, combined with various Angel Syndicates.
The start-up is now aiming to raise a further £2m in the next 12 months to allow the business to scale, support an increase in headcount across developer, product and customer-facing disciplines, and enable them to grow into US and other European countries.
Circl is an online game which allows up to 10 users to play against each other to win a pool of money deposited by the group.
The gaming mechanism is based on real-time events during the match, which are given their own scoring system. This allows for the pot of money to move around the Circl, rather than be awarded solely based on the final outcome.
Will Hawkins, founder and CEO of Circl, said: “Circl has the ability to turn any match into a thriller. It was created by accident when I was watching a boring game of live football with a bunch of friends who didn’t like football!
“So, we decided to make a sociable sports betting game for friends that would create and maintain interest throughout the match.
“Rather than have your bet depend on the final result, Circl uses in-match events such as goals, cards, corners, VAR or offsides to create tension about which of your friends will win the money.
“This unique type of sports betting experience can be followed by everyone, no matter their understanding of the sport and is a game of chance rather than skill.”
Circl also wants to help the members of the footballing community that need it most and will donate a proportion of its profits to men’s and women’s grassroots football in the UK.
Will said: “We want to distance ourselves from the stigma of betting. Circl aims to boost social inclusion through ‘low buy-in’, group-based participation, rather than the exclusion and addiction that traditional forms of betting often generate. Circl’s innately social concept will power growth in a competitive market at a fraction of the typical acquisition cost seen in this space.”
The Circl leadership team consists of founder Will Hawkins, CTO Mark Quinn and CFO Eddie Ross.
Will was formerly a product manager at Push Doctor and AccessPay, Mark was director of engineering at Mojo Mortgages, and Eddie was head of mobile at SkyBet. It has also taken on two new members of staff in social media and customer service roles.
