Frontrunner

Sports Prediction Platformgetfrontrunner.com

Frontrunner is a New York-based blockchain sports prediction market founded in 2020, serving sports bettors and esports enthusiasts through a decentralized platform for trading on event outcomes. The 1-10 employee startup has raised approximately $5.9M in seed funding.

Company typePrivate
Founded2020
HeadquartersNew York, United States
Headcount1–10
GTM typeB2C
OfferingSoftware

What Frontrunner does

Frontrunner is a New York-based, blockchain-native sports prediction and trading platform founded in 2020 that operates as a decentralized prediction market. Its single core product — the Frontrunner Prediction Market Platform — allows users to trade on outcomes of sporting events and esports competitions using decentralized infrastructure, blending elements of sports betting, financial trading, and decentralized finance (DeFi). The company targets two primary consumer personas: sports bettors and esports enthusiasts, both served on a horizontal basis without disclosed enterprise or institutional customers. No pricing, monetization mechanics, or revenue figures are publicly disclosed in the input data, and the product is delivered without a dedicated mobile app or public API at this stage.

The company is venture-backed and privately held, having raised approximately $5.885 million cumulatively across three disclosed rounds between June 2021 and December 2022. Its most recent and largest round was a $4.75 million seed in December 2022 led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, with participation from a broad syndicate including Soma Capital, FBG Capital, Gaingels, Gilgamesh Ventures, LedgerPrime, Noa Capital, Toy Ventures, WAGMI Ventures, and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Proceeds were allocated to product development, licensing, and expansion into additional sports and esports categories. Frontrunner operates with a 1-10 employee base, has four cofounders (Brian Vander Schaaf, Eric Jiang, Neil Zhang, Nillan Patel), and is headquartered in New York, USA, with no disclosed international operating footprint beyond North America. There is no evidence of M&A activity, leadership turnover, or material restructuring.

Frontrunner firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Frontrunner
Legal name: Frontrunner
Website: https://getfrontrunner.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2020
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1–10 employees
Short description: Frontrunner is a New York-based blockchain sports prediction market founded in 2020, serving sports bettors and esports enthusiasts through a decentralized platform for trading on event outcomes. The 1-10 employee startup has raised approximately $5.9M in seed funding.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Frontrunner industry classification

Industry

Product category: Sports Prediction Platform
NAICS: Gambling Industries (7132)
SIC: Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)
akta.pro primary industry: Fantasy-to-Sportsbook Convergence (DFS Sportsbook Hybrids) (MPAEACAM)
akta.pro secondary industries: Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Operators (MPAEAHAA), GameFi Economies & Token Systems (tokens, staking, sinks/sources, inflation control) (FSAPAGAG)

Keywords

Sports prediction markets
Blockchain betting platform
Esports prediction trading
Decentralized prediction markets
Sports event trading

Where Frontrunner is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: New York
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Frontrunner business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Software
Cost components: Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Frontrunner product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Frontrunner operates a blockchain-based, decentralized sports prediction market platform that enables users to trade on the outcomes of sporting events and esports competitions. The platform uses decentralized finance infrastructure to allow peer-to-peer prediction trading, with planned expansion into additional sports and esports categories.

Product overview

Frontrunner offers a single unified product: a decentralized sports prediction market platform. The platform enables users to participate in prediction trading for sports events. The company plans to expand its offerings to include new sports and esports categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

Frontrunner Prediction Market Platform

Companies that use Frontrunner

Customer profile

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Frontrunner technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Frontrunner partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Frontrunner competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Peers

PredictIt:

Direct peers

SportX: Blockchain-based peer-to-peer sports betting exchange that allows users to back or lay outcomes on sporting events. Mirrors Frontrunner's exchange-style, decentralized approach to sports wagering.
Polymarket: Leading crypto-native prediction market platform that lets users trade on outcomes of real-world events, including sports. Closest direct competitor to Frontrunner given its exchange-style mechanics, blockchain infrastructure, and similar target user base.
Azuro Protocol: Decentralized protocol for sports betting and prediction markets built on blockchain, enabling third-party front-ends to offer liquidity. Highly comparable to Frontrunner as a Web3-native sports prediction infrastructure layer.
Betfair Exchange: Pioneer of peer-to-peer sports betting exchanges where users trade against each other rather than against a house. The most established centralized analogue of Frontrunner's exchange-style prediction model.
Kalshi: CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange that lets users trade contracts on event outcomes including sports. Comparable as an event-contract trading venue, though Frontrunner is crypto-native and targets a different regulatory lane.
Augur: Early decentralized prediction market protocol built on Ethereum that lets users create and trade on the outcome of any event, including sports. Comparable as a foundational Web3 prediction market, though primarily known for non-sports events.
BetDEX: Decentralized sports betting exchange built on Solana that provides peer-to-peer sports wagering with low fees. Closely comparable blockchain-based sportsbook exchange competing for the same crypto-native sports bettor audience.

Broad incumbents

DraftKings: Dominant US online sports betting and daily fantasy operator with massive customer base and licensed state footprint. Competes with Frontrunner for sports bettor wallet share but operates a fully centralized, regulated sportsbook model.
FanDuel: Leading US sportsbook and DFS operator offering traditional sports wagering and fantasy contests. Overlaps with Frontrunner's sports bettor segment but uses a house-margin sportsbook model rather than an exchange.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Frontrunner financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Frontrunner leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Frontrunner funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frontrunner M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Frontrunner

What does Frontrunner do?

Is Frontrunner a public or private company?

Frontrunner is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.

When was Frontrunner founded?

Frontrunner was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is Frontrunner based?

Frontrunner is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.

Who are Frontrunner's main competitors?

PredictIt is listed as a peer. Direct peers are SportX, Polymarket, Azuro Protocol, Betfair Exchange, Kalshi, Augur and BetDEX. Broad incumbents are DraftKings and FanDuel.

Does Frontrunner have an API?

No public API is recorded for Frontrunner.

What industry is Frontrunner in?

Frontrunner's product category is Sports Prediction Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAEACAM, Fantasy-to-Sportsbook Convergence (DFS Sportsbook Hybrids), with a secondary code of MPAEAHAA, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Operators. Its NAICS code is 7132 and its SIC code is 6200.