Founded in August 2012, Fancred calls itself the world's fastest growing sports social network. While that claim may be a stretch, the fact that Fancred just raised $3 million to go with its existing $1.5 million financing round should go a long way in making the company a worthy destination for sports fans to consume information and interact with others who have like minded interests. The completion of the new $3 million financing round was announced today and led by existing shareholders Atlas Venture and Militello Capital, as well as first time participant Breakaway Innovation Group.
Boston-based Fancred developed a mobile application, currently available only for the iPhone, that brands itself as a tool that allows fans to capture their favorite sports moments. It offers a combination of services that larger social media applications provide -- checking in at events, uploading photos and sharing articles -- however, Fancred is all about sports, nothing else.
The new round of funding will allow Fancred to focus on continued product development and user improvements, team growth and strategic partnerships. The key goal is to expand beyond the iPhone and introduce the Fancred app to other platforms, including Android and creating a platform more suitable for use on the iPad.
"We raised $1.5 million in 2012 with the goal of building products and putting them in the market to see if there was any traction," explained Fancred CEO Kash Razzaghi in an interview for this article. "We were able to prove that we are able to build products. When we first raised the money in 2012, that was really the plan where we would build the products, and in a year-and-a-half or 2 years double down."
It is time for Razzaghi and his team to push more chips toward the dealer. While he says that Fancred's user base is growing 50% month-over-month, Razzaghi refused to provide any real details about his app's user base. Yet, he cited "really high engagement numbers" as the impetus that allowed Fancred to accomplish the new $3 million raise. Fancred's data suggests that its user base is averaging eleven sessions on the app per day per user.
The real question is that with so many social media options already on the market, why will an individual choose to set those aside in favor of Fancred?
"As sports fans, we attend games, watch them on TV, buy team apparel, take pictures and save memorabilia, so we built Fancred to give users a place to capture and share their sports lives and favorite moments," added Razzaghi. Thus, the key to Fancred's success is going to be by sticking to sports and capturing the hardcore fans who do not want to be inundated by social media sharing of content that they could care less about.
Razzaghi says Fancred's target demographic is college students and that he is determined to build bustling college-based communities. The app is almost entirely comprised of U.S. users at the moment and is not yet generating revenue. However, Razzaghi notes that investors understand that previous financing rounds have been purely meant for growth. The revenue generating opportunities, he hopes, will come later.
Former NFL player Lawyer Milloy has joined the Fancred team and the company will continue to focus on creating more strategic partnerships with professional and college sports teams. The Boston Red Sox, Mississippi State University and Liverpool Football Club have all joined the Fancred community and are actively featuring behind-the-scenes photos as well as breaking news and team information.
Darren Heitner is a lawyer and the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C., which has a focus on Sports Law and Entertainment Law.
