.avif)
The past few years have revealed a massive shift in how consumers treat money, from the rise of crypto assets and /wallstreetbets. Speculation has become entertainment. This relatively new behavior is what we’re calling ‘social gaming’, a blend of financial wagering, competition, and community.
The longevity of some trend-driven examples, such as NFTs and GameStop frenzy, is debated, but the staying power of the underlying consumer behavior is clear, and the evidence is everywhere. $TRUMP coin reached a $70b fully diluted valuation within 24hours, while Phantom Wallet processed more than $1b in trades in a single day. Kalshi, a federally regulated prediction market, saw more than a billion dollars in election market volume in just thirty days. In the collectibles space, Pokemon cards continue to reach new peak prices on a near-daily basis, with the collectible platform Courtyard seeing over $50M worth of monthly GMV across its cards and comics divisions.
Consumers are no longer just investing — they are playing, and markets have become a form of social interaction.
We believe sports are the ultimate arena for this behavior. They have consistent events, shared cultural stakes, and an inherent competitive structure. Yet the dominant sportsbook platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel still operate like traditional casinos. The economics are opaque, margins are high, and skilled traders are routinely banned, so instead people turn to informal bookies or offshore accounts to trade. There is still no true home for peer-to-peer sports trading in the United States.
Novig is changing that reality. The company is building the first zero-commission sports prediction exchange that combines transparency, fairness, and a highly engaging user experience. They have already scaled to $2b in annualized trading volume — less than a year since debuting the peer-to-peer marketplace — and continue to rapidly improve their product experience to drive new users at scale.
Inspired by financial markets, the peer-to-peer model enables users to act as both price takers and price makers. The product sophistication supports institutional traders and market makers, high-frequency users, and casual users alike, making it a truly dynamic marketplace. This is in contrast to the rest of the predictions industry, where sportsbooks and betting platforms act as the house, controlling odds, capping wins, and profiting by betting against users. Novig’s ambition is clear: The company aims to become the NASDAQ of sports by removing fees, offering professional-grade trading tools, and creating a social environment.
None of this would be possible without founders Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, and a team that has more than doubled in size this year across engineering, legal, trading, and marketing. It’s rare to find a combination of ex-founders and professional sharps, engineers who can rattle off sports stats like they’re singing karaoke, and people who casually go to trading meetups for fun. They have built an exchange infrastructure that rivals high-frequency trading desks while maintaining a deep, nuanced understanding of both sports and consumer behavior. Their relentless focus on product velocity and regulatory sophistication has made Novig a formidable recent entrant into the market.
As Novig prepares for football season and the next chapter of expansion, its new capital and team momentum will cement Novig’s position as the most beloved, dynamic U.S. sports prediction exchange.
