Splash Sports

Splash Sports, operating under the parent company Splash Inc., is a peer-to-peer real-money gaming platform focused on skill-based contests. Founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneurs TJ Ross and Joel Milton, the company was established to simplify and modernize the social experience of sports gaming among friends and groups. Ross, with a background in investment banking and founder of the online marketplace 43Layers, and Milton, former CEO of the cannabis CRM platform Baker Technologies, identified a market need to streamline the often cumbersome process of organizing peer-to-peer sports contests and managing payouts.

The company's journey began by acquiring two established entertainment-only pool-hosting sites, RunYourPool and OfficeFootballPool, in 2021. This strategic move provided an initial user base that grew from 600,000 to over 2 million active players. After operating in stealth mode to build out its technology, Splash Inc. launched its real-money gaming platform, Splash Sports, in August 2023, making it available in 33 states, including major markets like California, Florida, and Texas. Financially, the company has secured significant backing, closing a Series A2 funding round of $14.1 million in January 2024, with investors including Boston Seed Capital, Velvet Sea Ventures, and Elysian Park. This adds to an investor lineup that includes notable figures from the sports world like Theo Epstein and Alex Morgan.

Splash Sports' business model is centered on facilitating peer-to-peer contests, where the company does not act as "the house" but rather as a platform for users to compete against each other. Revenue is generated through a service fee on contest entries and a new division, Partner Solutions, which allows brands to sponsor contests and engage with the platform's large user base. This B2B approach has already attracted partnerships with major brands like the NBA, Jack Link's, and TaylorMade. The platform offers a variety of skill-based game formats such as Survivor, PickX (Pick'Em), Tiers, and One & Done across popular sports like NFL, NBA, and PGA Tour golf. A key feature is the role of the "commissioner"—contest organizers who can create and manage games for their communities and earn rewards, creating a creator-style economy on the platform. Splash Sports handles all the logistics, including collecting entry fees and distributing winnings securely, thereby removing common friction points for users.

Keywords: peer-to-peer gaming, real-money contests, fantasy sports, sports strategy games, social gaming, skill-based gaming, RunYourPool, OfficeFootballPool, commissioner economy, survivor pools, PickX, sports contest platform, TJ Ross, Joel Milton, sports gaming technology, online sports pools, daily fantasy sports, group contests, P2P sports, sports community platform