Midnite Raises $16M Series A to Build the Next Generation of Sports and Esports Betting

November 5, 2024

Author:

Midnite, the London-based sports and esports betting platform, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by The Raine Group, a global merchant bank focused on technology, media, and telecommunications. Existing investors, including Makers Fund and Venrex, also increased their positions in the round. John Salter, co-founder and partner at Raine, will join Midnite's board of directors as part of the investment. The funds will be used to develop Midnite's suite of gaming-native betting products and support the company's international expansion, beginning with soft launches in Latin America and a planned entry into Mexico.

Midnite was founded in 2018 by Nick Wright and Daniel Qu, two gaming industry veterans who previously built Dribble, a daily fantasy sports platform created in partnership with Sky Bet. Wright and Qu observed that the existing sports betting industry — despite its scale — had been built on white-label technology stacks that were largely identical across operators, creating a commoditised experience at odds with the expectations of younger, gaming-native consumers who had grown up with Twitch, competitive gaming, and highly personalised digital experiences. Midnite set out to build its entire technology stack in-house, prioritising product quality over speed of entry.

The company's core product is a UK Gambling Commission-licensed sportsbook that offers wagering on traditional sports alongside a comprehensive esports coverage — including CS:GO, League of Legends, Fortnite, and other titles — making it one of the few operators to treat esports as a first-class product rather than an afterthought. Midnite also launched CashMode in 2021, a feature allowing skilled gamers to wager on their own gameplay for real cash prizes, and had plans to launch Arcade, a casual casino and mini-games experience designed from the ground up for gamers, in 2022.

The esports betting market has grown rapidly alongside competitive gaming's rise as a mainstream spectator sport, with hundreds of millions of viewers watching tournaments for games like CS:GO, Valorant, and League of Legends globally. However, most sportsbooks have treated esports as a secondary product, resulting in limited coverage, generic odds, and interfaces that feel alien to gaming fans. Midnite's thesis is that a product built specifically for gaming culture — with real-time data, gaming-familiar UI patterns, and community features — can win a disproportionate share of the growing cohort of young bettors whose primary entertainment frame of reference is games, not traditional sport.

The Series A capital positions Midnite to accelerate hiring, deepen its product development, and launch in new markets. Raine's track record as an early backer of DraftKings, Jackpocket, and Mythical Games — alongside its deep expertise in gaming and interactive entertainment — makes it a particularly strategically aligned investor for Midnite's next phase of growth.

Sources