How Lucra Sports secured funding by pivoting its pitch to AI

Lucra Sports has raised a $20 million Series B—the second major round of venture funding—led by ARK Invest. The funding round represents a notable achievement in the current venture capital climate, particularly because the lead investor, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, had previously lost money on an investment in Skillz.

To secure the capital, founder and CEO Dylan Robbins had to navigate an investment landscape heavily focused on artificial intelligence. During the fundraising process at the end of 2025, Robbins encountered immediate resistance from venture capitalists. According to Robbins, “One out of every three calls, the first line, they would stop the meeting and say, oh, we’re only investing in AI now. I don’t want to waste your time. To the point where they wouldn’t even let me pitch.”

Although Lucra Sports is not an AI company, Robbins adjusted his pitch to discuss AI to secure the funding. He reframed his presentation to argue that if AI succeeds, people will have more leisure time to play games, and if it does not, a non-AI investment serves as a useful hedge. By explicitly incorporating AI into his pitch, Robbins successfully navigated the fundraising process and overcame investor reluctance.

The relationship with ARK Invest originally began with a chance meeting at a dartboard in a New York bar, where Robbins met an ARK employee. The two played darts and reconnected months later, leading to an introduction to the investment team. Robbins emphasized the value of casual networking, advising, “My first piece of advice on all of this is you never know who you’re talking to. Just go around, be nice, meet people, have fun.”

Lucra Sports operates by providing white-label interactive gaming—a service provided by one company that other companies rebrand as their own—for businesses to offer online tournaments and friendly wagers. Its customers include Five Iron Golf, Dave & Buster’s, and Chess King. Robbins defined the startup’s TAM, or Total Addressable Market, as almost every American from ages 18 to 70, emphasizing the need for non-AI startups to present a massive vision to investors.

Why it matters

The fundraising landscape remains heavily skewed toward artificial intelligence, forcing non-AI startups to creatively frame their value propositions to capture investor attention.