Magnus Carlsen’s latest project, Fantasy Chess, is evolving from experiment to venture-backed startup. Oslo-based Fantasy Chess, led by CEO Mads Andre Christiansen, a former co-founder of an online grocery startup, has raised $3 million in its first pre-seed round led by local venture capital firms SNÖ Ventures and Coatue, with participation from billionaire investor Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Initiatives and Peter Thiel’s fund Thiel Capital.
Magnus Carlsen famously excels in the Fantasy games related to football. Now he brings fantasy to chess.
Fantasy Chess plans to release several fantasy-style games, Christiansen said. But the company also aims to build on current fans’ following and generate more interest in the game by producing its own content and offering streaming capabilities to elite players in real-world tournaments. It could also produce its own tournaments and events, the CEO added. “We want more people to get excited whenever Magnus or one of the top players in the world is playing chess.”
All of these possibilities mean that Fantasy Chess is still new to the startup world—it hasn’t released an official product and has just six employees—but the company is trying to capitalize on chess’ bright moment in pop culture.
Also notable is the presence of a co-founder in Carlsen, something no other chess startup can boast at the moment. If the newcomer can make an impact on the market, having the world’s highest-ranked chess player, arguably the greatest of all time, on board will certainly be a plus.
Ben Schwerin, General Partner at Coatue adds, “Even though Chess is one of the world’s oldest games, there is a huge opportunity to make it more accessible and more engaging. We’re excited by the opportunity to support such a strong team, in such a big market, with such a grand ambition.”
Peter Thiel, founder of Thiel Capital and co-founder of PayPal, Palantir, and Founders Fund, continues, “Great chess players excel at ideas and winning – two concepts the Fantasy Chess team understands better than most.”
Fantasy Chess will be based out of Oslo and plans to build a global team to engineer, support, and market the platform as it comes online. The company is planning to launch their platform officially in October.
