Fanatics may be closing in on a deal to buy a sportsbook operation.

Rush Street Interactive, valued at $3.61 billion, and Betsson, valued at $1.3 billion, have reportedly held discussions with the $18 billion sports merchandiser.

The potential move comes after Fanatics has taken steps to pad its betting portfolio in recent months, hoping to tap into its customer base of over 80 million sports fans and the $211 billion sports betting market.

• Fanatics teamed up with Penn National (Barstool Sportsbook) to enter a joint bid for a New York sports betting license.
• Jay-Z joined the board of Fanatics Betting and Gaming as vice chairman in August shortly after the rapper and his company, Roc Nation, participated in Fanatics’ $325 million funding round.
• The company hired Matt King, former CEO of FanDuel, to work with CEO Michael Rubin on “new ventures.”

Rush Street Interactive is currently in 10 states, while Betsson doesn’t yet operate in the U.S.

Sports betting isn’t the only new market Fanatics has entered recently. In August, the company struck trading card deals with MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBPA, and NFLPA, adding to its e-commerce partnerships with all of the major U.S. sports leagues. It also owns NFT company Candy Digital.

Fanatics expects sales to hit $3 billion this year.

Months after turning down Microsoft, Discord — a chat app popular with gamers — has more than doubled its valuation. 

Discord raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation in a round led by Dragoneer Investment Group. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, Fidelity Management and Research, and Franklin Templeton joined the round.

Discord now has over 150 million monthly active users, as it works to expand beyond gamers. The company hired former Nike executive Tesa Aragones as its chief marketing officer in Sept. 2020 to spur its growth into new markets.

• The latest funding round nearly matches its previous fundraising total of around $600 million.
• The San Francisco-based company earned $130 million in 2020 and $45 million in 2019. It was not profitable as of March. 
• It does not sell ads or user data, but offers $9.99 per month subscriptions for improved video quality and other features.

Discord held acquisition talks with a number of companies earlier this year, and received a bid from Microsoft for $12 billion. The company ended those talks in April.

At the time, Discord was valued at $7 billion off of a $100 million raise from Dec. 2020.

SpringHill Company, the media venture created by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, is nearing a major investment from RedBird Capital. 

The deal would reportedly value SpringHill at $650 million to $700 million. Nike and Fenway Sports Group are expected to join the investment. Nike has a $1 billion lifetime endorsement deal with James.

RedBird’s sports investments also include Toulouse FC, the XFL, YES Network, and On Location, the NFL’s hospitality provider.

• In March, James and Carter bought into Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, and Roush Fenway Racing. RedBird made a concurrent investment of $750 million for an 11% stake in FSG. 
• In June 2020, SpringHill raised $100 million from Guggenheim Partners, UC Investments, SC.Holdings and others. It merged SpringHill Entertainment, media company Uninterrupted, and marketing company Robot into a single entity at that time.
• Last year’s fundraise saw Serena Williams, Elisabeth Murdoch, Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino, Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan, and Red Sox chairman Tom Werner join SpringHill’s board.

On Thursday, SpringHill announced a deal with live audio app Clubhouse that will have the two companies produce a handful of new sports and culture shows. 

SpringHill produced “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” and has production deals with ABC Studios, Universal, Audible. It previously worked with HBO, CNN, and Netflix.

Editor’s note: SC.Holdings is an investor in FOS.