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Hollywood star-cum-tech investor Ashton Kutcher is the latest high profile investor to back international eSports gambling startup Unikrn.
The company’s current round of Series A funding opened on June 30 and has already attracted other well-known investors including Mark Cuban of ABC’s Dragons’ Den-style show, The Shark Tank.
It is unknown how much the actor, who played Steve Jobs in the recent biopic Jobs, has put into the company fund, however since November of 2014, Unikrn has raised a total of $10m in capital from international investors.
Kutcher’s track history of backing successful tech startups is not to be discounted, as he has been a significant investor in global firms like AirBNB, FourSquare, SoundCloud and UBER, though this is far more of an outlier in his portfolio.
"I’ve had the pleasure of investing and being involved in a number of outstanding startups, and Unikrn stood out because they are completely changing how people engage with eSports," said Kutcher. "eSports are mainstreaming, and Unikrn Arena provides fans with an additional level of excitement not found elsewhere."
The announcement coincides with the launch of Unikrn’s latest platform feature, Unikoins – tokens of a virtual currency that can be won through "quests" – trivia questions or special bets – and exchanged for prizes.
Prizes are supplied from various high-tech manufacturers relevant to eSports enthusiasts, such as Alineware PCs, Gunnar eyewear and – fittingly, as the company where Unikrn founder Rahul Sood found his fame – HP computers.
