The convergence between the sports betting market and eSports is a huge reality in the digital world, and a platform that seems to understand this reality very well is Midnite, an English site that operates in Brazil and has been growing more and more in terms of betting volume.
To give you an idea, in 2022, the group managed to raise US$ 16 million for the creation and development of its eSports betting platform – in addition to other classic modalities. This investment round was led by the Raine Group, a global commercial bank focused primarily on technology, media and telecommunications. As part of this round, existing investors have increased their investments in Midnite.
As such, John Salter, who is a co-founder and partner of the Raine Group, has joined Midnite’s board. In addition, managing director Garrett Gomes became one of the board’s observers. This investment by Raine forms part of its dedicated gaming investment platform, as proceeds from this round will be used to help fund the London-based bookmaker’s key growth initiatives as the company supercharges. your product platform.
“Midnite employs a product-first growth mindset, and we are impressed with its founders and fully believe in their vision for the company. Their talented and dedicated team is passionate about changing the way fans experience the games they love, and we look forward to helping them create the next generation of sports betting.”
In addition to being directed to the traditional betting platform, with a focus on betting markets in CS:GO, League of Legends and others, this investment can also be directed to the CashMode mode, a section where players earn money as they complete pre-game challenges. -established in the main games on the market – all leveled according to each one’s skill.
Focus on the Z call is Midnite’s “mantra”
Founded in 2018, Midnite differentiates itself from conventional bookmakers in the betting market precisely because of its appeal to the generation Z gamer audience – although it also offers odds for football, basketball, tennis, motorsport and other modalities.
This is partly explained by the profile of the company’s founders, Daniel Qu and Nicholas Wright, who also created Dribble, a daily fantasy game platform, another very popular segment among the so-called “new audience of gamblers”.
“We ended up discovering this huge hole in the big betting operators we know today. We didn’t think they were thinking ahead enough about who tomorrow’s customers are,” says Wright, who is American but moved to the UK, where he founded Midnite alongside Daniel Qu.
“If you look at the players, they are taking over the world. They are more sophisticated consumers. They are digital first. These big betting companies are just yesterday’s marketing brands created for your father and grandfather. They are not mobile first or familiar with the Discord or Twitch generation. We think this market should be led by technology and we see gambling as a form of entertainment. We want users to have this entertainment around the games they love, every week or every month.”
To best develop this mindset, the new team at Midnite worked in collaboration with Sky Bet, one of the most renowned operators in the UK, which played a crucial role in the launch of the platform. Today, the company is licensed by the British Gambling Commission, the British authority in the betting industry. Outside the United Kingdom, Brazil is one of the group’s strategic markets, where it has been operating since last year.
In addition to the investment made by Raine, Midnite maintains a portfolio of investors that includes large companies in the entertainment market, such as Draftkings, Betfair, Revolut, Just Eat, Faceit and Team Solomid. The company also has its own community in the NFT universe, which is the Midnite Wolf Pack, a collection of 5000 NFTs (that is, non-fungible tokens) on the Ethereum blockchain, which can be used in eSports betting. There is also a strong investment in marketing, being an official sponsor of the eSports team Los Grandes.