Underdog has named a new chief financial officer and chief marketing officer as the historic fantasy sports company leans into the world of prediction markets and projects almost $500 million in revenue for 2025.
The sports betting and gaming operator announced on Tuesday that it has named former Twitter VP of Corporate Development and Strategy and Mayfield Fund Partner Rishi Garg as its new CFO, while ex-Warner Bros. Games SVP of Digital Publishing and Fortis Games Chief Publishing Officer Kimberly Pointer Corbett is the new marketing chief.
“Our formula to win is simple: invest in people and product, and we bring in leaders who know what it takes to build the type of company we want to be,” said Underdog Founder and CEO Jeremy Levine. “Throughout their careers, Rishi and Kimberly have done it, demonstrating the ability to build some of the most globally successful consumer brands. We have ambitious goals and we’re building the team to take us there.”
“We all have those conversations in our careers that we never forget, and for me one of those conversations was talking to Jeremy Levine for the first time,” Pointer Corbett wrote on LinkedIn on Sept. 16. “I was blown away by the energy and drive Jeremy and the entire team at Underdog had.”
“We’re here to serve sports fans in the most compelling way in the industry. I’m swinging hard with the best team as we scale Underdog to be the ultimate sports brand. Keep an eye out, we’re doing big things.”
Pointer Corbett fills the role that was vacated by Liz Marro, a member of Underdog’s founding team who served as CMO for more than five years before transitioning into an advisory position earlier this year. Meanwhile, Garg succeeds Dustin Cooper, another member of the founding team who had been in the CFO role since Underdog launched in 2020. Earlier this year, Cooper shifted his role within the C-Suite to chief business officer.
“After only five years, Underdog is growing fast and is beloved by fans,” said Garg. “Right now, we have a pivotal opportunity to be a great consumer company and build the essential daily companion to the American sports fan, and I am excited to be a part of it.”
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Underdog bills itself as the fastest-growing sports gaming company in the U.S. Historically focused on offering peer-to-peer and pick’em fantasy games, as well as sports betting in some American jurisdictions, it is the first online gaming operator to begin offering prediction market-style sports event contracts, via a partnership with Crypto.com announced at the start of September.
Sport contract trading is now available in-app on Underdog in 16 states, most of which are reportedly states where online sports betting has not been legalized. One of those is reportedly California, where Underdog changed its DFS product to P2P-only in July after the state Attorney General’s office issued a negative opinion on the legality of daily fantasy games.
“While still new and evolving, one thing is clear – the future of prediction markets is going to be about sports – and no one does sports better than Underdog,” said Levine in unveiling that move, which made Underdog the first sportsbook to actually start offering event contracts. FanDuel has announced a deal with CME Group to launch a trading platform, but is yet to take that live.
Garg told Reuters that he sees the prediction markets opportunity for Underdog as “kind of a gold mine hiding in plain sight.”
Underdog expects to reach nearly $500 million in revenue in 2025, its fifth year of operation. It recently raised $70 million in Series C funding led by Spark Capital, the sports gaming industry’s largest investment from a top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Overall, the company’s theoretical value is now more than $1.3 billion.
As it continues to evolve in real-time, Underdog now has two new chief officers in place to help lead the drive.
“Garg and Pointer Corbett have driven growth at premier companies, including Twitter, Square, Zynga and Warner Brothers, and will be central to Underdog’s mission of driving growth by building authentic, lasting engagement with sports fans,” added the firm.
