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Topdog, a New York startup behind a real-money, real-time multiplayer skill-gaming app, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding that it plans to use for user acquisition and to build more sports-based games, the company announced Wednesday.
Boston Seed Capital led the round. The Raine Group, Bullpen Capital, Versus Ventures, Spoondrift Capital and Permit Ventures also participated. Topdog previously raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, putting its total capital raised at $4.1 million.
That’s a modest round by fintech standards. The names behind it are not: Boston Seed, The Raine Group and Bullpen Capital were all early investors in DraftKings and FanDuel, the two companies that built modern sports betting into a mainstream industry.
It’s the same money, looking for its next bet.
Topdog’s backer list also includes FanDuel co-founder Nigel Eccles, Revenant VC founder Ryan Moore and gaming industry consultant Dustin Gouker.
Live, turn-by-turn matches replace solo play
Most skill-gaming apps have players compete alone and compare scores once the game is over. Topdog’s games instead run turn by turn in real time, with two players drafting, deciding and adjusting while the match is underway.
The current lineup includes Basketball Hustle, 21 Hustle, Tilt and Pinfall, built on technology the company says it developed in-house for matchmaking, player liquidity, payments, fraud detection and live operations.
Sports fans already spend hours debating lineups and matchups, Topdog co-founder Aman Agarwal said, but most gaming products only hold their attention while a game is actually being played. Topdog is trying to give fans a way to “stay engaged with the sports they love even during off-peak hours.”
That off-peak window is the real bet. Sports betting apps go quiet between games. Topdog wants fans to have something to do with that dead time that still involves real money and a real opponent.
Boston Seed’s Blacklow has solved this before
Peter Blacklow, managing director at Boston Seed Capital, has run into this exact problem before. He previously led WorldWinner’s skill-games business, later acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures Television, and landed at No. 94 on US iGaming Hub’s 2025 list of the 100 most influential figures in the US online gambling industry.
Reflecting on that experience, Blacklow said Topdog’s founders have built technology that makes real-time multiplayer gaming scalable while pairing it with games designed for real-money audiences — solving problems he and his team “were unable to when [he was] leading WorldWinner’s skill games business.”
In a Topdog press release, he said he believes the company has a chance to build an important new category.
