Fantasy soccer startup Sorare nets $4 million in a funding round backed by German striker Andre Schurrle

• Blockchain fantasy soccer startup Sorare has raised $4 million in a funding round backed by Seedcamp and German striker Andre Schurrle. 
• Schurrle told Business Insider he was "immediately impressed" by founders Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, and that he will be "helping them along the journey" to build their card-trading game.
• In 2019, the global fantasy sport market was valued at around $18 billion, according to analysts at Market Watch – and is expected to almost double to $43 billion by 2026. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Fantasy soccer startup Sorare just raised $4 million in a funding round backed by Seedcamp and German striker Andre Schurrle. 

Founded in 2018, Paris-based Sorare lets players collect and trade limited-edition cards of their favorite players, and compete with other users. It has officially licensed cards for almost 2,000 professional soccers players from Europe, the US, and Asia.

"As a kid, I loved collecting my favorite football players in the Panini albums," said Schurrle, who has played for Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund, and who won the 2014 World Cup with the German national team.

He was "immediately impressed" by founders Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, he told Business Insider. "The cards are beautiful, the fantasy game is for fans that love this amazing game all around the world. I will be helping them along the journey to build the most exciting fantasy football game."

The new funding round, which was also backed by Fabric Ventures and e.ventures, will pay for new hires and help push the number of licensing partnerships from 70 clubs to 150 by the end of 2020.

"Sorare's mission is to make fantasy football global and rewarding with a new kind of collectibles: digital football cards," Julia said.

"We are creating the easiest way for football fans to leverage their football knowledge and play with skin in the game. We are delighted to be backed by an incredible syndicate of investors who will help us drive the adoption of fantasy football forward."

SEE ALSO: The biggest chess star on Earth just casually became the number one ranked player in the world's largest fantasy soccer league

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