SAN FRANCISCO--()--Today, a passionate group of entrepreneurial fans, former players, and investors have teamed up to launch Fanstake, the first open and competitive fan-driven Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) platform. Fanstake enables college sports fans to directly influence athlete recruitment and retention by pledging money toward their favorite athletes' NIL endorsement deals.

Fanstake's mission is to create a win-win environment where fans have more influence, athletes can earn their fair market value, and schools at all levels have a democratized playing field.

Here’s how it works: Using Fanstake, fans can pledge financial support, known as “staking,” to promising recruits, transfer players, or current rostered athletes they want to see play for their favorite college team next season. If a fan's "staked" athlete chooses the fan's school, Fanstake strikes an authentic NIL endorsement deal with that player. If the athlete chooses another school, the fan gets their money credited back to their Fanstake account, and the other school’s fanbase contributes to the endorsement deal instead.

This innovative competitive mechanism helps college athletes understand their true market value by providing them transparency into the actual supply and demand in the market, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their current careers and future paths. By tapping into grassroots support, Fanstake provides athletes with more ways to maximize their value in an evolving NIL landscape.

"The NCAA House Settlement is a significant step forward, but it is still far from the comprehensive solution that college athletics needs," said Greg Glass, CEO and Co-Founder of Fanstake. "We created Fanstake because we truly believe that engaging in the open market is the most effective way to create a fair and balanced environment in college sports. It may sound idealistic, but we're convinced there's a win-win approach in this industry that benefits everyone. With Fanstake, we aim to create a scenario where athletes can earn their true market value, fans can finally have a meaningful role in shaping their teams, and the entire ecosystem thrives through the principles of an open market. We believe this transparent approach will truly change college sports for the better."

Fanstake has raised a $3M pre-seed round led by Susa Ventures and Will Ventures, with participation from multiple other firms and angel investors, including executives from LinkedIn and Headspace.

Ben Gardner, Partner and Head of Portfolio Success at Will Ventures and former captain of Stanford University's Rose Bowl-winning football team in 2013, added: “As a former college athlete, I've spent more than a decade advocating for change in college sports and have developed a deep understanding of the current NIL landscape. Fanstake solves many problems and unlocks an entirely new opportunity set for schools, fans, and athletes. I'm particularly excited about Fanstake empowering athletes to engage multiple fan bases, build their brands early in their careers, and finally benefit from free market transparency."

“The current NIL market is complex and is often confusing for college athletes, schools, fans, and others," said Mit Winter, a leading NCAA legal expert and Fanstake board advisor. "With schools likely to soon be paying NIL compensation to athletes directly as a result of the House settlement, athletes now need a solution that can help them determine their third-party NIL value with respect to attending a specific school. One that can comply with the House settlement terms and be part of the further change that is likely coming to college athletics. Fanstake aims to be that solution for athletes, fans, schools, and brands."

Starting today, fans can go to Fanstake.com and start staking their favorite athletes, focusing initially on men's football and men's and women's basketball. To celebrate the platform's launch, Fanstake is running a “Million Dollar Match” promotion, which will allocate up to $1 million in matching funds to eligible stakes made by fans. Fanstake will match an unlimited number of stakes, up to $100 per fan, with a maximum match of $25,000 per athlete. For more terms and conditions, please visit Fanstake’s website.

About Fanstake
Founded in 2024, Fanstake is the preeminent NIL team-building platform built by fans for fans to pledge money to recruit and retain athletes at their favorite colleges. Fanstake was founded by Greg Glass, Alex Boisvert, and Donnie Flood. The three were part of the founding and executive team of Bizo, an AdTech company that was acquired by LinkedIn in 2014 for $175M. They have since held senior leadership positions at multiple Unicorn companies (Alex Boisvert - former CTO of Headspace), (Donnie Flood - former CTO of Guild). Fanstake is based out of San Francisco. For more information, go to www.fanstake.com.