Exclusive. Sorare joins the Solana blockchain

Sorare is changing its playing field. According to our information, the French start-up, which specialises in blockchain-based fantasy football, has signed an agreement with the Solana foundation to migrate its infrastructure.

Until now, Sorare has been running on StarkEx, a private version of Ethereum developed by the company Starkware.

When questioned by The Big Whale, Sorare's teams and the Solana foundation did not wish to comment on this information.

This decision to change infrastructure should enable the French start-up, known for having signed up the largest fundraising round in French Tech ($680 million in 2021), to attract new users.

The financial aspect is significant, with the Solana migration including an initial $500,000 payment to Sorare, potentially rising to $10 million if certain objectives are met.

"They need fresh capital," reveals a source close to the startup, which continues to burn substantial cash (150 employees), particularly due to licensing fees for league, club, and player images.In 2024, Sorare has virtually eliminated all US investments and positions to focus on Europe, especially France.

Performance indicators

The financial agreement is based on a series of performance indicators. Some are linked to business volumes for the game, which counts stars such as Kylian Mbappé among its ambassadors - and investors. Others are more operational, such as the actual launch of the platform on Solana before mid-November.

Meeting this timetable would, for example, trigger an additional tranche of $1 million. On Sorare's side, the stated objective is to go live at the end of October.

"Overall, these performance indicators should not be too hard to achieve," confides a source close to the matter.

End of cash rewards and a Sorare airdrop?

The partnership with Solana comes with a major change for players as it concerns the end of cash rewards. Under regulatory pressure, Sorare could switch to winnings distributed exclusively in Solana tokens (SOL) for French users.

This shift is set to profoundly alter the experience of users, who until now have been able to collect winnings in real money.

In addition, Sorare is reportedly considering an airdrop of tokens, designed to attract the Solana community to its ecosystem. The operation is still unclear, but it illustrates Sorare's desire to anchor its development in the logic of adopting the chosen blockchain.

As for the figures, Sorare has generated $18 million in sales since the launch of the new season at the end of July, its boss Nicolas Julia announced on 27 August (+ 45% YoY).

A performance in line with previous years (August is traditionally an excellent month because it's the resumption of the football leagues), but which masks a less favourable trend for the company, whose valuation would now be well below the $4.3 billion of 2021 - Softbank was one of the investors.

Card sales, the company's main revenue driver, peaked in mid-August before falling back sharply. A slowdown that could weigh on the rest of the year, especially as the business model is now based on a high concentration of sales at the start of the season.

These changes come against a complicated backdrop for "crypto" gaming companies.

One of Sorare's main competitors, Unagi, which developed the fantasy football game, Ultimate Champions (raising €4.7 million in 2023), pivoted to a video game studio model in 2024.

For its part, The Sandbox, which is the best-known metaverse, has just drastically downsized. As we revealed, the company has shed more than 50% of its workforce and changed its governance.

These economic difficulties are coupled with regulatory uncertainty.

The Jonum scheme, recently created in France to regulate hybrid online games, seems tailor-made for a company like Sorare. However, the start-up is not officially registered under this framework. According to our information, the implementing decree is still awaiting signature due to political instability in France.