Sports app and social network join forces

Co-founder and executive chairman of YuuZoo Mr Thomas Ziliacus. PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES

SportsHero, said to be Asia's first real-time fantasy sports application and social prediction platform, has teamed up with Singapore-based social e-commerce network YuuZoo Corp.

SportsHero, launched in mid-May by Singapore app maker MyHero, allows users to predict, interact with and compete virtually in sports in real time.

Its partner, YuuZoo Corp, is a Singapore-based online platform that allows its users in 164 countries to network, trade and play games.

The partnership, announced yesterday, will allow SportsHero to reach out to more people through YuuZoo's network, and will allow YuuZoo to "provide (its) users with a quality gaming experience," said the co-founder and executive chairman of YuuZoo, Mr Thomas Ziliacus.

For example, YuuZoo users can take part in SportsHero's social sports prediction for football competitions, such as the Uefa Euro Championships, to win prizes.

This complements YuuZoo's existing partnership with Sweden-based Circle of Champions, which develops mobile games for football clubs such as Barcelona and Chelsea.

The partnership also allows SportsHero to tap the growth of global e-sports revenues, which are expected to surpass US$1.1 billion (S$1.5 billion) by 2019.

"With YuuZoo, we're now able to... realise our vision of being the leading mobile-first social network dedicated to sports," said the chief executive of SportsHero, Mr Dinesh Bhatia.

More users on SportsHero can follow top players on the app, who can in turn charge them a followers' fee.

Revenue from this will be split equally between SportsHero and YuuZoo.

Tan Fong Han

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 07, 2016, with the headline Sports app and social network join forces. Subscribe