[Updated] Fantasy football analytics startup launches hilarious crowdfunding campaign
August 12, 2015 | Bobby Burch
Kansas City-based Edge Up Sports launched a crowdfunding campaign Wednesday to support its platform providing fantasy football players insight on their picks.
With CEO Ilya Tabakh in full pads, Edge Up’s Kickstarter campaign video tackles the playful aspects of fantasy football — trash-talking, devastating losses and rowdy fans — to appeal to would-be backers. The company is eyeing $35,000 to support the build of its analytics platform, which taps high-tech services such as IBM Watson.
As of Aug. 17 — or five days after launching its campaign — Edge Up Sports reached its goal. The company’s campaign has exceeded $38,800.
“We want to help you completely blow out your fantasy league,” Tabakh said. “We clean up all these disconnected and disparate data sources by using techniques to put that information into context for things that matter to fantasy players. … We want to tailor our tools around making fantasy football fun again and find ways to allow users to talk smack in a more interesting way and ultimately be competitive in their league.”
In addition to using IBM Watson, Edge Up’s platform looks at variables such as a user’s team, player statistics, matchups that week and even the weather. It also will pull data from social media interactions, analyst write-ups, news stories and more. By offering such information, the company hopes to snag part of a nearly half-billion dollar pie.
About 57 million Americans and Canadians will play in fantasy leagues this year, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. That massive group will spend around $465 million on fantasy games
Serving as an assistant coach to fantasy players, Edge Up Sports hopes to appeal to some of the estimated 10 million casual users with its mobile platform. The company plans to charge $22 for Edge Up’s basic platform, or $55 for its “cognitive tier.” The cognitive tier uses IBM Watson technology to process a wide sampling of data available around the NFL to help users make informed picks. It also will look at trends over a set period of weeks.
The company is now in the business incubator Digital Sandbox KC, which awarded it a $25,000 grant. Additionally, Edge Up also has secured $30,000 in funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also has received loads of press for its platform, including WIRED, Fast Company and the Kansas City Star.
Check out the company’s Kickstarter campaign and video here.
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
K-State wants to bring 3,000 jobs, $3B to Kansas; here’s how a new urban-rural plan will help it reach all 105 counties
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures (EGV), a business unit of NetWork Kansas supporting innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs in the State of Kansas. TOPEKA — Kansas State University…
KC-built NFT startup merges with news outlet to ‘create clarity out of chaos’ in volatile industry
It’s time for the NFT industry and digital economy to grow up, said Randy Wasinger, announcing the merger of CryptoSlam and Forkast.News — a move meant to help tame a “Wild West” ecosystem “full of promise, glory and painful outcomes for many” via on-chain data analytics and journalism. “[The NFT industry] shouldn’t lose its fearless…
StratFit secures patent, flexes plans for explosive growth with platform built in Google Workspace
StratFit founder Daniel McKee powered into 2023 with the launch of StratFit Digital MVP, advanced training design software for personal trainers and coaches. Built in Google Workspace, StratFit Digital’s Strategy Design Drive integrates McKee’s “super-system” with advanced tools that make it easy to access and use. “[With StratFit Digital], I have been working on separate…
SpiderOak raises $16.4M for space cybersecurity tech to protect ‘soft underbelly’ of satellites
A Lenexa-based company’s industry-leading technology is taking orbit with new investments that validate SpiderOak’s end-to-end cybersecurity efforts — a “mission critical” platform that reduces the attack surface of satellites and damages the ability of adversaries to jam and disrupt space communications. “Today, space-based assets are mission essential in all civil and military operations and rapidly…