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 capitalist Cathie Wood and her ARK Invest Venture Fund arsenic a pb successful a startup fundraising round.

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

On apical of that, Dylan landed this large food arsenic an capitalist adjacent though his institution is not successful the 1 country 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, oregon supports affable wagers betwixt their customers connected who volition triumph games. Its customers see Five Iron Golf, Dave & Buster’s, and Chess King.

Robbins told america determination were 2 secrets successful however helium landed a big-name capitalist against specified odds:

1. Be affable to everyone, anywhere due to the fact that you ne'er cognize erstwhile a casual speech volition crook into your large investor.

2. Lead your transportation with AI adjacent if you aren’t a famed AI idiosyncratic and aren’t gathering models, agents, oregon thing AI.

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

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

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

“My archetypal portion of proposal connected each of this is you ne'er cognize who you’re talking to. Just spell around, beryllium nice, conscionable people, have fun,” Robbins says. Let that pb to bully conversations, which volition pb to introductions, helium said.

Flash guardant a fewer years to the extremity of 2025, erstwhile AI had overtaken task backing similar honeysuckle.

Lucra Sports had truly recovered its lane with its white-labeling service. It was acceptable to rise a Series B to substance maturation and caller ideas similar adding mini-games into its offerings. (Lucra conscionable invested successful a mini-game improvement spouse to physique retired this capability.)

But Robbins kept moving into an AI-shaped wall.

“We were raising successful Q4 of 2025, which was then, similar adjacent now, benignant of highest AI mayhem,” Robbins said. “One retired of each 3 calls, the archetypal line, they would halt the gathering and say, oh, we’re lone investing successful AI now, I don’t privation to discarded your time. To the constituent wherever they wouldn’t adjacent fto maine pitch.”

The remainder told him they were lone investing successful AI aft they heard the pitch.

So Robbins tried a caller tactic. He adjusted his transportation and his platform to sermon AI close retired of the gate. The revised transportation argued that if AI works, radical are going to person much escaped clip to play games with friends astatine the barroom oregon online — hence his concern volition beryllium a victor — and if it doesn’t, a non-AI stake starts to look similar astute diversification. It was a hedge either way.

“It was a tiny cohort of radical that would truly instrumentality it seriously,” helium said of his pitch. ARK, fortunately, was 1 of them. Once committed, the pb capitalist made introductions to different VCs to assistance capable retired the round.

Underpinning each of this were bully concern fundamentals, including “consistent twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth growth, not conscionable 1 spurt,” helium said.

The last acquisition Robbins learned was that, particularly for a non-AI business, VCs privation 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, helium had 1 VC nonstop a rejection that helium printed retired and posted to the wall.

“I sent them our maturation illustration and our TAM, which was similar crazy, up into the close maturation potential, huge, big, billions of TAM. And the effect was: ‘TAM’s excessively small.’ That was the response. Like, our maturation complaint was excessively slow,” helium said.

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

“I person to enactment myself successful that mindset and truly plaything for the fences if I privation to rise task superior money,” helium added.