Sportslock start up says its different from other fantasy sports operators

A new contender in the fantasy sports arena, Chicago-headquartered SportsLock, has secured $5 million in Series A funding just two months after launching its app but says its fantasy sports offer is different from those offered by market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel.

SportsLock says its product is a mobile application offering “a first-of-its-kind fantasy sports brackets experience”.

“It allows users to compete against friends or public opponents in survive and advance style bracket tournaments (similar to the structure of the annual NCAA Tournament) for money”, co-founder Todd Heyden told Forbes in an interview. “Users draft their players in real-time and winners advance to the next round until there is one winner”.

Chicago-based Wicklow Capital led the Series A fund raising which included buy-in from angel investor Robert Dupuy, former chief operating officer of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Funds will work towards accelerating SportsLock’s growth and positioning as “the best place for friends to take action on sports”. The company has embarked on a recruitment drive to increase its current staff complement from 11 to 19 with a focus on employing A+ engineers.

“I really feel we are the third largest in this space,” said Heyden. ”We are building a really cool game that’s legal in forty-six states. By definition, we are definitely a fantasy company, but with time we can expand that and give our area its own name.”

SportsLock is focusing on a Series B round of fund raising in the near future.