Esports Startup Unikrn ICO Presale Nets $15 Million, Attracts Investment from Mark Cuban
Esports startup Unikrn raised $15 million from accredited investors ahead of its public initial coin offering (ICO), which opened earlier this week. The Unikrn ICO presale attracted notable investors, including Mark Cuban.
Unikrn, the world’s only fully-licensed and -regulated esports betting platform, first launched in 2014 and had already raised $10 million in traditional venture capital investments from investors such as Tabcorp, Ashton Kutcher, and Guy O’Seary.
Now, the company is launching its own ERC20 token, UnikoinGold. The token was designed and is being sold in partnership with CoinCircle, and the company hopes to raise $100 million by the conclusion of the public Unikrn ICO to help fund the development of an upgraded skill-based betting platform.
Token holders will have access to premium content, including raffles and the opportunity to “earn prizes, rewards, hardware, and exclusive features,” according to a media release. In some jurisdictions, the token may also be used to place bets, depending on the local regulations.
The company raised $15 million during a private presale with accredited investors including Mark Cuban, Brock Pierce, Blockchain Capital, and Pantera Capital. The public Unikrn ICO opened on September 23 and is expected to raise about $85 million.
“With significant interest demonstrated through the private sale and growing interest among the cryptocurrency community, we’re confident the UnikoinGold token sale will reach its $100million cap,” said Rahul Sood, CEO of Unikrn.
However, as Hacked’s ICO analysis of UnikoinGold cautions, the token is not intended to be used as an investment. Rahul Sood said as much in a recent YouTube AMA , explaining that Unikrn will actively seek to “make the tokens stable…over time”:
People should not be looking at this as an investment. If they are looking at this as an investment, they’re making a mistake. Tokens are not investments. You’re not getting equity. You’re not getting voting rights. There many or may not be volatility. It’s important for us to make the tokens stable and justify the value over time.
Of course, given the current frenzy surrounding ICOs, it is likely many investors will choose not to listen.
