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AlleyWatch

The Pulse of New York Tech

Gaming

Jackpocket Scores Another $50M to Make Playing the Lottery as Easy as a Few Taps on Your Phone

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The lottery is the most popular form of gaming with 49% of adults reporting buying a lottery ticket.  For states, the lottery serves as a source of revenue to fund public education budgets, veteran services, infrastructure, and other public works.  Jackpocket, founded in 2013, partners with official state lottery retailers and offers the players the convenience of getting in on the action from their phones, get automated alerts when they win, and even collect via the phone. Jackpocket, founded in 2013, partners with official state lottery retailers and offers the players the convenience of getting in on the action from their phones, get automated alerts when they win, and even collect via the phone. The company currently services eight states with plans to expand to new markets. The service went live in New York last month and is already responsible for 7% of all Powerball tickets sold in the state. Despite the pandemic slowing down the overall lottery market, Jackpocket grew 4x in 2020 and now employes a team of 175. AlleyWatch caught up with Founder and CEO Peter Sullivan to learn more about the $80B lottery industry’s push to go mobile, the company’s traction, future plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Greenspring Associates, Gaingels, The Raine Group, David Blitzer, BRV Capital, Tegna, Circle K Corporation, and Sean Hayes.

Parsec Raises $25M to Ensure You Can Connect to Any Computer in the World Remotely

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Remote working has become the new normal but for some professions, having access to the powerful computing systems found at the office is difficult to replicate. Parsec is a platform that allows users to remotely access virtual machines and their powerful PCs from any device without any noticeable latency. The company got its start in gaming, where it was popular with gamers that wanted to play on the go, but since the pandemic, the technology is being used by animators, game developers, engineers, or anyone that needs enhanced processing power remotely. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Benjy Boxer to learn more about the impact the company’s technology has had on working remotely, the company’s expansion plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Andreessen Horowitz, Makers Fund, Notation Capital, NextView Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.

Bunch Raises $20M for Integrated Video Chat for Gamers That’s Grown 50x During the Pandemic

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COVID-19 has left us longing for human connection even if it’s through video chat. This is no different for gamers. Multiplayer games are the new social networks. And in these trying times where we are isolated from each other, games are how people are choosing to spend time with friends. Bunch, is an integrated video chatting app that allows gamers to video chat in real-time with fellow gamers and friends. CEO and Cofounder Selçuk Atli walks us through how the company has grown the user base 50x since March and the company’s $20M Series A round from investors that include General Catalyst, Electronic Arts, Krafton (PUBG), mixi, Take-Two Interactive Software, Ubisoft, Supercell, Riot Games, Miniclip, COLOPL, LVP, Northzone, Streamlined Ventures, Konvoy Ventures, OneTeam Ventures, Velo Partners, Golden Venture Partners, and Alven Capital Partners.

Ergatta Raises $5M to Fuse Rowing Machines with Competitive Gaming to Improve At-Home Fitness

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“Investors don’t like hardware, and rowing can be perceived as a niche interest. We had to respond to concerns like ‘what if Peloton copies your content,’ and manage the difficulty of effectively demo-ing our product given that it’s a large piece of hardware and COVID-19 made transporting the rowers a bigger challenge.” Learn more about how Tom Aulet of Ergatta, a connected fitness startup that offers elegantly designed in-home rowing machines with a gamification element, was able to successfully raise $5M for the company during the pandemic from investors that include Greycroft and Techstars.

ThriveFantasy Raises $1M for its Esports Platform for Prop Bets

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Despite the pandemic halting sports, fans have a new outlet with ThriveFantasy when the action resumes. This daily fantasy sports platform democratizes fantasy sports and is designed for the casual user who wants to be more engaged with sports. Rather than drafting a traditional fantasy lineup, users can pick over/unders from the top tier athletes […]

PickUp Raises $1.48M to Bring Interactive Sports Conversations Across Any Medium

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The absence of sports has driven fans crazy during the pandemic but as sports resume, PickUp will be there to make sure that fans are engaged. Cofounded by Dan Healy, PickUp is a sports engagement platform that allows fans to create conversations from the content they are consuming on publisher sites and share it around the web.

1Huddle Raises Another $5M to Simplify Employee Onboarding Through Gaming

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.a href=”https://www.alleywatch.com/profile//” target=”_blank”>.a href=”https://www.alleywatch.com/profile//” target=”_blank”>.a href=”https://www.alleywatch.com/profile//” target=”_blank”>.a href=”https://www.alleywatch.com/profile//” target=”_blank”>.a href=”https://www.alleywatch.com/profile//” target=”_blank”>.ref=”https://www.alleywatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1Huddle-series-a.jpeg”> Onboarding people for a new job can be a dry, boring process because it doesn’t engage employees who are being trained or doing the training. 1Huddlechanges this by gamifying job training through quick, interactive mobile games. These science-backed games enable employees to retain information (97% […]