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New football app has big ambitions

A new football app called Otto has signed up sixteen players including Neymar and Lionel Messi. The idea is to give the players a platform where they can share stories with fans. Premium content has to be paid for, of course.

Otto is Spanish for 'other' and the idea is that this will be their other club. It is calculated that there are 1.1 billion people who like football and have a smartphone. Only a small portion of this market will have to be captured for the project to succeed. Arguably fans are more interested in content related to their own club, and not super stars who may play for rival clubs, but we shall see.

The project is funded by 23 Capital, a London-based investor. It has provided $50m of funding. An investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management is among the backers.

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