Exclusive – Footbo, a provider of interactive sports sites and applications, has raised an additional $2.5 million from Pitango, the Israeli VC firm who has now invested about $4.5 million in the startup. Footbo announced the financing round as it formally launches its latest venture, 11Runs, a new fantasy baseball game.
The new initiative is Footbo’s latest move as it vies for a leading position in the world of fantasy sports – the site complements the company’s 11Kicks (‘real’ football, which Americans call soccer) and 11Rush (for the sport Americans, in turn, call football) websites.
11Runs basically enables fans to play fantasy baseball in quick weekly competitions and win cash prizes. The site features integration with social networks, allowing users to sign up using their Facebook, Twitter or Yahoo profiles. Users can also post updates about their winnings directly to social networking services to brag to their friends.
The company is set to release an accompanying iPhone application early next week, and is also working on a custom application for Android handsets.
Footbo was founded in 2007 by co-founder and CEO Mani Honigstein. The company originally started out as an online social community for football lovers from across the globe.
