DraftKings announces new round; sources say DraftKings raised $100M, and FanDuel is raising too as companies await merger approval
Dan Primack / Axios :
Context & Ripple Effects
Four months after DraftKings and FanDuel agreed to merge — with Jason Robins set to run the combined company and Nigel Eccles becoming chairman — the deal is still stuck awaiting approval, and both sides are raising money in the meantime. Axios reports DraftKings has brought in a new round of roughly $100M, with sources saying FanDuel is raising as well.
Raising separately while a merger pends is an unusual posture: investors are effectively funding two companies that plan to become one, which signals the approval timeline is uncertain enough that neither side can afford to run out of cash waiting for it.
First-order effects
- DraftKings banks $100M of runway, and FanDuel begins its own raise, so both companies can keep operating — marketing spend, payouts, headcount — through a merger-review period of unknown length.
Second-order effects
- If regulators block or further delay the merger, the new capital positions each company to compete independently rather than fold — and the eventual FanDuel financing structured as a convertible note suggests investors hedged on valuation precisely because the deal outcome was unresolved.
Third-order effects
- A pattern of rivals raising survival capital while a consolidation sits in regulatory limbo points to daily fantasy's endgame being decided by approval timelines as much as by competition — with the merged entity's leadership (Robins as CEO) already settled regardless of when, or whether, the deal closes.
The trend: Daily-fantasy consolidation is proceeding on two tracks at once — a signed merger agreement awaiting approval and parallel raises keeping both companies solvent until regulators decide.