TBW - EXCLUSIVE: Sorare to cut a third of its workforce
Sorare is going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. According to our information, the French start-up specialising in fantasy football informed its teams on Thursday that an economic redundancy plan (PSE) would be launched. Around 35% of the company's hundred-strong workforce are expected to leave in the next few weeks.
"I've decided to accelerate our return to profitability," CEO and co-founder Nicolas Julia told The Big Whale. "This plan has two objectives: to help us reach profitability next year, and to simplify the organisation. We're shortening the decision-making circuits and centralising everything in Paris. It's hard to live with, obviously, but it was necessary."
Adrien Montfort, CTO and co-founder, has also announced his departure internally. He will be stepping down from his operational duties, but will retain a role on the board of directors.
This redundancy plan represents a minor earthquake, even though many employees were expecting an announcement on this scale. For several months, the economic trajectory of the former unicorn had darkened considerably.
Brought to the top in 2021 thanks to a record fundraising of $680 million (for a valuation of $4.3 billion) and a euphoric NFT market, Sorare has been suffering a severe contraction in its business for the past three years:according to the media outlet L'Informé, it would have recorded sales of €59 million in 2023, then €43 million in 2024.
According to Nicolas Julia, the company should end 2025 in growth. "That's what was planned and announced, we're maintaining that target," he assures.
Also according to L'Informé, losses would have exceeded €220 million in 2023 and remained very high in 2024 (around €100 million). The entrepreneur would not confirm these figures, but envisages a return to profitability "by the end of 2026".
"More than €500 million in contractual commitments have been renegotiated and withdrawn"
The company, which had benefited between 2021 and 2022 from a major spotlight by President Emmanuel Macron, has since been excluded in mid-2025 from French Tech 120, the French government's support programme reserved for the country's finest start-ups.
In 2024, it also made almost all its teams in the United States redundant, two years after attempting the American adventure to replicate its model in baseball and the NBA.
"But our US ambitions remain intact: we're continuing to build around MLB and the NBA, which we've just renewed", says Nicolas Julia. "And more broadly, the American market remains important, especially with the 2026 World Cup coming up there. We'll continue to work with our ambassadors, influencers, content creators and local partners."
The good news is that Sorare has managed to renegotiate its licensing agreements with the football leagues, clubs and players that appear in the game. "In total, more than €500 million in contractual commitments have been renegotiated and withdrawn. That's a huge amount. Sorare's financial profile is nothing like it was two years ago. It's a colossal task for the team," continues the entrepreneur.
But this austerity cure has not been enough to halt the erosion of the business model. Sorare remains highly dependent on card sales, which are concentrated at the start of the football league season, but whose activity is struggling to maintain itself for the rest of the year.
"I don't think that's a problem in itself," Nicolas Julia reacts. "A lot of businesses are very seasonal: a large part of the activity is naturally concentrated at a specific time of year. Can we do more to generate more revenue in other periods? Very probably. And some of the announcements planned for next year clearly point in that direction. But we also have to accept that seasonality is part of the model - the important thing is to plan around it."
Among the key indicators for the quarter that followed this summer's launch of the 2025-2026 season (revenue, engagement and user volume), the company assures us that they are all growing strongly. "Revenue is up 22% year-on-year, the volume of cards redeemed is up 25% (2.8 million), and we now have 378,000 users holding cards, 33% growth on last year."
Migration to Solana could bring in up to $10 million
The announced migration to the Solana blockchain provides, according to our information published in September, a payout of up to $10 million for Sorare, conditional on several objectives.
This operation should offer a new lease of life to the platform. But despite this, the momentum remains fragile.
It has to be said that the sector context is not helping. Web3 gaming is also going through a period of turbulence: its rival Unagi, creator of Ultimate Champions, abandoned the fantasy model in 2024 to become a more traditional video game development studio, while The Sandbox has shed more than 50% of its workforce and changed its governance, as we revealed in August.
"Many companies have indeed encountered difficulties. But to be honest, I'm not sure Sorare is really a gaming company," says Nicolas Julia. "We sell collectibles and build games around them, so we're really at the crossroads of two categories. And the reality is that nobody has yet succeeded in proving that a model of this type could achieve revenues of hundreds of millions, or even billions of euros. It's factual: no one has cracked the model yet, even if many are trying."
In France, regulatory instability further complicates the situation. Despite a Jonum framework theoretically designed for players like Sorare, the implementing decree has still not been signed (despite being voted in 2024), plunging a whole section of the sector into uncertainty.
"I don't think entrepreneurs are slowing down their projects because of this," moderates Nicolas Julia. "But it's true that this lack of clarity doesn't help, especially when you're looking to raise funds. A firm and definitive regulatory decision institutionalises a category. It makes the whole ecosystem more secure. I think we're close to the finish line now."
On the question of a possible future fundraising round, which could significantly lower the company's valuation, all the doors are open even if nothing has been decided.
"We're not raising money", asserts Nicolas Julia. "But we receive expressions of interest and we evaluate them. If certain opportunities match our needs and conditions, we'll be able to move forward. But it's not something we're actively preparing for."
To date, Sorare retains significant assets: a strong brand, a highly engaged community and a global presence backed by partnerships with the biggest sports leagues.
But this departure plan marks a major break. The company must now prove that it can stabilise its model.
