Appstem Kicks off NFL Season with DraftMate’s New Fantasy Sports App Benefiting Nonprofits

Fantasy sports has never been more popular– and thanks the newly launching DraftMates app, there are more ways to play! DraftMates is changing the game to make the games more appealing for everyone: Now, you can play for fun or play for money to support your favorite 501 nonprofit organizations.

Developed by Appstem, the new DraftMates iOS and Android apps were purpose-built for people who “just want to have fun”, rather than serious gamblers who take in 80% of the profits on traditional game platforms. The app enables people to do good by “winning” money for their favorite charity groups while they play.

Here’s how it works: Users can invite friends, coworkers and contacts into their private leagues, or they can participate in public leagues offered by nonprofits. Public contests are designed for a bigger pool of players who want to play for specific causes. Private leagues are only open to players who are invited to join; each player chooses which nonprofit they’d like to support. Funds are generated through the entry fees of public and private contests; 85 percent of the entry fee goes to the nonprofit; and 15 percent to the app’s operational costs. Playing is 85 percent tax-deductible, and players are provided an end-of-year report that itemizes their donated causes.

Appstem played an integral role in the entire launch of the app bringing together every detail of the design process from branding, logo design, color, wireframes as well as UI/UX design, and backend development.  

Both the iOS and Android apps have just been released offering NFL and NBA-themed games. Future versions will include platforms for the NBA and MLB, which will be ready for those respective seasons, followed by platforms for golf, E-sports, and the NHL.

The Appstem team faced some fun challenges building the app! For example, a real-time sports statistics engine enabling users to tap into real time sports data for players on the field had to be created. A full payments platform was integrated into Braintree to collect credit cards; as well as building a ground-up database and content management system for non-profit partners. Ensuring that all of the real time data would be pulled and integrated with the mobile app required significant heavy lifting from the engineering team.

We’re excited to see this launch move forward as the company tackles a strategic marketing campaign aimed at a younger user-base and female players.

Want to check it out? It’s available for free at Google Play and the Apple App Store,