Mercia EIS Funds

Games firm nets £600k funding from Mercia for fantasy football app

A games studio which has developed a unique real-time football game has closed a £600,000 funding round from Mercia Fund Managers and a leading global mobile games developer.

UFL is the first real-time fantasy football game that allows fans worldwide to connect simultaneously to a live soccer match. Unlike typical fantasy games, the action happens as the match unfolds and every player’s move on the pitch is mirrored into a real-time game. Launched in 2016, it now has over 1.0million registered users worldwide.

UFL is the first game to be launched by Realtime Games, which was founded by Sohail Godall. The funding will allow it to expand its team, step up its marketing in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, and develop the platform further to allow it to create similar games.

Sohail Godall, CEO of Realtime Games, said: “We’re delighted to secure our funding round and see this milestone as a testament to the hard work our team has put in. This round provides us with a great platform to build upon our core game technology, scaling up for the World Cup and beyond. We’re very excited to be working with our funders to reshape the way millennial fans around the world consume live sport.”

Mike Hayes, Head of Digital & Digital Entertainment at Mercia, said: “UFL is unique in the market. It is the first ‘free to play’ fantasy game, and the first to combine a real-time live game with short play experiences, which makes it ideal for the casual fan. Realtime Games has not only built a popular soccer app with a loyal fan base, but it has also created a platform that could be applied across a much wider range of sports.”