The pitch trick that helped an eSports startup raise $20M when VCs only wanted AI | TechCrunch

Lucra Sports raised a $20 million Series B led by ARK Invest Venture Fund, with participation from other VCs. The fundraising succeeded even though ARK had previously divested from Skillz after investing heavily and taking losses. Lucra also attracted ARK without operating in the AI space that many investors currently prioritize. Lucra provides white-label interactive gaming competitions that function as loyalty programs for consumer-facing businesses, including online tournaments for prizes and friendly wagers between customers. Customers include Five Iron Golf, Dave & Buster’s, and Chess King. The founder credited two factors: maintaining friendliness and openness in everyday conversations, and leading pitches with AI even without building AI models or agents.

"Lucra announced last month that it raised a $20 million Series B, led by the ARK fund, with participation from several other VCs. Robbins attracted ARK even though the fund had previously gotten badly burned on a similar eSports company: Skillz, a skill-based gaming platform in which the fund invested heavily before divesting at a loss. On top of that, Dylan landed this big fish as an investor even though his company is not in the one area that all VCs are currently chasing: AI."

"Lucra offers white-label interactive gaming competitions as a novel kind of loyalty program for businesses that serve consumers. Rather than, say, earning points toward a coupon, Lucra's clients offer online tournaments for prizes, or supports friendly wagers between their customers on who will win games. Its customers include Five Iron Golf, Dave & Buster's, and Chess King."

"Robbins told us there were two secrets in how he landed a big-name investor against such odds: 1. Be friendly to everyone, anywhere because you never know when a casual conversation will turn into your major investor. 2. Lead your pitch with AI even if you aren't a famed AI scientist and aren't building models, agents, or anything AI."

""Six months later, we ran into each other at the bar again. The same darts bar. It's like, 'Good to see you. How's it going?' And we got to talking and I asked him what he did for work. And he told me he worked at ARK," Robbins recalled. Robbins told him about Lucra and the contact introduced him to the investment team at ARK, which wound up writing a small check i"

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