The Pitch Trick That Helped An Esports Startup Raise $20m When Vcs Only Wanted Ai

Earlier this year, Lucra Sports laminitis and CEO Dylan Robbins did thing that nary 1 other has ever done.

He landed famed nationalist investor Cathie Wood and her ARK Invest Venture Fund arsenic a lead successful a startup fundraising round.

Lucra announced past period that it raised a $20 cardinal Series B, led by nan ARK fund, pinch information from respective different VCs. Robbins attracted ARK moreover though nan money had antecedently gotten severely burned connected a akin eSports company: Skillz, a skill-based gaming level successful which nan money invested heavy earlier divesting astatine a loss.

On apical of that, Dylan landed this large food arsenic an investor moreover though his institution is not successful nan 1 area that each VCs are presently chasing: AI.

Lucra offers white-label interactive gaming competitions arsenic a caller benignant of loyalty programme for businesses that service consumers. Rather than, say, earning points toward a coupon, Lucra’s clients connection online tournaments for prizes, aliases supports friends wagers betwixt their customers connected who will triumph games. Its customers see Five Iron Golf, Dave & Buster’s, and Chess King.

Robbins told america location were 2 secrets successful really he landed a big-name investor against specified odds:

1. Be friends to everyone, anywhere because you ne'er cognize erstwhile a casual speech will move into your awesome investor.

2. Lead your transportation pinch AI moreover if you aren’t a famed AI intelligence and aren’t building models, agents, aliases thing AI.

To nan first point, nan seeds to Lucra’s fundraising travel began erstwhile Robbins was playing darts successful a New York bar. He met different feline astatine nan dartboard, and they enjoyed a fewer games together.

“Six months later, we ran into each different astatine nan barroom again. The same darts bar. It’s like, ‘Good to spot you. How’s it going?’ And we sewage to talking and I asked him what he did for work. And he told maine he worked at ARK,” Robbins recalled.

Robbins told him astir Lucra and nan interaction introduced him to nan finance squad astatine ARK, which coiled up penning a mini cheque successful his Series A round.

“My first portion of proposal connected each of this is you ne'er cognize who you’re talking to. Just spell around, beryllium nice, meet people, have fun,” Robbins says. Let that lead to bully conversations, which will lead to introductions, he said.

Flash guardant a fewer years to nan extremity of 2025, erstwhile AI had overtaken task backing for illustration honeysuckle.

Lucra Sports had really recovered its lane pinch its white-labeling service. It was fresh to raise a Series B to substance maturation and caller ideas for illustration adding mini-games into its offerings. (Lucra conscionable invested successful a mini-game improvement partner to build retired this capability.)

But Robbins kept moving into an AI-shaped wall.

“We were raising successful Q4 of 2025, which was then, for illustration moreover now, benignant of highest AI mayhem,” Robbins said. “One retired of each 3 calls, nan first line, they would extremity nan gathering and say, oh, we’re only investing successful AI now, I don’t want to discarded your time. To nan constituent wherever they wouldn’t moreover fto maine pitch.”

The remainder told him they were only investing successful AI aft they heard nan pitch.

So Robbins tried a caller tactic. He adjusted his transportation and his platform to talk AI correct retired of nan gate. The revised transportation based on that if AI works, group are going to person much free clip to play games pinch friends astatine nan barroom aliases online — hence his business will beryllium a victor — and if it doesn’t, a non-AI stake starts to look for illustration smart diversification. It was a hedge either way.

“It was a mini cohort of group that would really return it seriously,” he said of his pitch. ARK, fortunately, was 1 of them. Once committed, nan lead investor made introductions to different VCs to thief capable retired nan round.

Underpinning each of this were bully business fundamentals, including “consistent twelvemonth complete twelvemonth growth, not conscionable 1 spurt,” he said.

The last instruction Robbins learned was that, particularly for a non-AI business, VCs want to perceive a large dream. Robbins had one: a full addressable marketplace of anyone who plays games of immoderate kind, from pickleball to Wordle.

“So our TAM is almost every American that’s 18 to 70, right?” Robbins said. Even so, he had 1 VC nonstop a rejection that he printed retired and posted to nan wall.

“I sent them our maturation floor plan and our TAM, which was for illustration crazy, up into nan correct maturation potential, huge, big, billions of TAM. And nan consequence was: ‘TAM’s excessively small.’ That was nan response. Like, our maturation complaint was excessively slow,” he said.

He said this was a “reminder” to him “to deliberation moreover bigger.”

“I person to put myself successful that mindset and really plaything for nan fences if I want to raise task superior money,” he added.