Sorare is no longer an Ethereum-only platform — users can now pay with fiat
Fantasy sports company Sorare has a multibillion-dollar valuation after two separate fundraises in 2021
Marko Aliaksandr/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
Sorare, a platform that infuses crypto and fantasy sports, is now offering an option for players to make purchases in the app with fiat currencies.
This new functionality follows a partnership with Mangopay, a payments infrastructure provider. With Cash Wallet, Sorare’s 3 million users will be able to pay not just in Ethereum but in the US dollar, the euro and the British pound, GamesBeat reported on Monday.
The French startup’s lineup of games has caught on the most in Europe — mainly for its NFT-based fantasy soccer game. But last year, Sorare partnered with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) in a bid to expand into the US.
Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia stressed that the platform remains a blockchain-based product, but touted fiat integration as enhancing accessibility.
“Sorare is built using blockchain technology because we believe it can deliver unique benefits to sports fans and fantasy gamers in the form of proven authenticity, scarcity, and portability,” Julia said. “The launch of Cash Wallet is key to our goal of making Sorare as simple and user-friendly as possible for all sports fans.”
Sorare was founded in 2018. It started out as a trading and fantasy sports game, where users would buy digital cards of soccer players in the form of NFTs.
That vision attracted plenty of venture capital in 2021. Sorare raised $50 million in its Series A in February. Seven months later, it got a considerably larger investment — $680 million — with Softbank at the helm. With that latest round, Sorare achieved a $4.3 billion valuation.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
- Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
- Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
- Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
- The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
