Sports data tracking app Mojo has launched in the New Jersey market on time for Week 3 of the National Football League. Backed by Alex Rodriguez emulates a stock trading model whereby all players are assigned values based on their performance throughout the season and historical data.
Invest in NFL Players Like You Would in Stocks
Mojo uses advanced tracking to accurately reflect changes in the value of players by focusing on individual team outlooks and numerous player statistics that become available as the season unfolds. The app has been backed by a number of sports personalities and even NFL teams. The Minnesota Timberwolves owner Marc Lore, Vinit Bharara, Bart Stein, and many others have helped raise more than $100m for Mojo so far.
Lore and Bharara have been thinking about creating Mojo for a long while now. Back in the 1990s, when the sports betting industry was just taking off, they had a project known as “The Pit.” The platform was dedicated to sports card trading and was sold in 2001 for $5.7 million.
Commenting on this launch, Bharara tried to explain what Mojo is and how it differs from anything seen in the sports market so far. In a sense, Lore and he wanted to create a solution and a platform where people can invest in athletes as they would normally do in stocks. He added:
This idea that we had a long time ago, this idea of the sports stock market, we should do that again. We should do it the right way.
Mojo co-founder and CEO Vinit Bharara
The launch in New Jersey is just a first step towards a push across the United States, with the platform having at least nine other markets in mind. America is legalizing sports gambling quickly, and the long-term bets introduced by Mojo are both legal and of interest to consumers in the country.
Mojo has been able to pull in some massive funding. In March it raised $75 million as part of a Series A funding led by Thrive Capital. It has been backed by NFL Players Association, Chris Rock, and others. The platform is fresh in the way it perceives sports betting, offering a brand-new way to enjoy betting.
Innovation Comes to Sports Betting in the US
The mass legalization push in the United States has created unique opportunities to expand the experience between the pre-game betting status quo. In-play wagers have become the norm. Platforms such as FuboTV and Fubo Gaming, through their Fubo Sportsbook solution, turn passive viewers into active players.
Jake Paul, a famous media personality and influencer turned pugilist launched his Betr platform, a free-to-play app that focuses on small game events and milestones, similar to prop bets.