Prophet Exchange secures $10M funding round

Hoboken-based Prophet Exchange, the nation’s first fully regulated, peer-to-peer high-frequency sports betting exchange, announced April 10 it secured more than $10 million in a new line of funding.

The backing comes less than a year after the company’s official launch in New Jersey last August, which has seen steady growth and momentum that included $1 million traded on this year’s Super Bowl. It plans to use this funding to look inward and develop the best, most innovative product in this rapidly emerging market.

As NJBIZ has chronicled, Prophet Exchange, founded in 2018 by Dean Sisun and Jake Benzaquen, utilizes its peer-to-peer platform to match users’ potential bets with others across New Jersey, offering money line, spread and total markets for NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and college basketball and football games.

The company plans to add new markets and sports such as soccer, tennis, golf, UFC and more in the near future.

“As excited as we are to enter the emerging market of sports betting, we are a tech company at heart,” said CEO and co-founder Sisun in a press release. “We are a scrappy, lean, and agile firm in a sea of behemoths, which allows us to respond to changes and capitalize on opportunities at a moment’s notice. This round of funding will let us continue as disruptors in the betting space and push our fast-moving product forward in this blossoming market.”

Prophet’s operation first began in the United Kingdom, passing necessary licensing and compliance while proving its proof of concept overseas before the team moved back home in 2020 to work with New Jersey regulators to develop exchange rules and regulations in a then-sportsbook-dominated environment. As the legal sports betting market continues to grow throughout the country, Prophet believes that its proprietary technology and product uniquely position it to capitalize on the growing sector to cement itself as the “people’s exchange of choice.”

Prophet says the benefits of its exchange include: that each user wins more or loses less on every single bet because there is no vigorish (or vig) as with traditional sportsbooks; there are no limits on the amount of money users would like to wager; users can trade in and out of positions on tight margins; and can make offers on outcomes of their desired prices as with financial exchanges.

Currently, only users within New Jersey can place bets on the platform. But, users across the country can download the app to view the lines and learn the ins-and-outs of peer-to-peer exchanges.

“To be frank, something has always bothered us about ‘the house always wins,’” said COO and co-founder Benzaquen. “At Prophet, we win only when the user wins. As the first pro-consumer betting exchange in the country, we believe it’s time for the house to lose a few hands.”

Prophet also boasts New York Giants legend, Super Bowl champion and Paterson native Victor Cruz as a strategic partner and brand ambassador.

“Prophet’s current mission is to dominate the straight bet experience in the U.S. Best-in-market prices, creating offers with requested prices, unlimited action, and frictionless trading in and out of positions with lower capital requirements make up that experience,” said Sisun. “From there, over the long term, Prophet’s mission will evolve to scaling across states with a suite of unique betting products at a speed unforeseen by our competitors.”d