Most startup competitions are built around the moment a winner is named. Flutter's Affiliate Draft is built around everything that happens before it.
Now in its second year, the Affiliate Draft is the flagship track of Alpha Hub, Flutter's program for founders building on its affiliate API, the on-ramp to brands like FanDuel, Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair. The shape is the same as last year: apply, get shortlisted, and pitch in person at a two-day final in Dublin in front of Flutter stakeholders, VCs and potential partners. Verdict MMA, a combat-sports fan platform, won the inaugural 2025 edition. This year's finalists head to Dublin on October 21–22. Here's what happens once they get there.
Ed Lyttel heads affiliate partnerships across Flutter International and has spent more than a decade inside the business. Ask him what the two-day final is for and the trophy barely comes up. Day one, he said, is "just getting to know each other, networking. They're here face to face." Finalists get time with Flutter stakeholders "across the business—product, marketing, commercial, you name it," alongside affiliate startups the operator has already backed and grown. What he's describing looks less like a judging panel and more like a scouting operation, one Lyttel says can "almost act as a bit of an accelerator."
The room is built for that. "There's lots of fireside chats. We have the VCs, we have experts come in, we can talk, debate, they can talk to each other," Lyttel said. The pitch itself is almost a byproduct, something finalists rehearse and rework in real time, with Flutter coaching them to "practice their pitch and hone it" before they take the stage. The difference over 48 hours is stark. "What they presented on day one was sometimes totally different to day two in the actual event," he said. "It's a really intense two days, but really valuable, really good connections with people."
The clearest sign of what Flutter is really doing is what happens to the startups that lose. "They were all winners there," Lyttel said. "Even the shortlisted that didn't turn out [in Dublin]… we've worked with them in some capacity." Last year's event was Flutter's first, and Lyttel says the company learned enough to sharpen the format for 2026—a program he describes as "growing from strength to strength." For an operator that runs FanDuel, Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair, the value isn't crowning one company a year, but leaving Dublin with a shortlist of founders it has a reason to call.
That logic tracks with where the affiliate business is going. As traditional acquisition gets more expensive, operators need a steadier way to find the people building the next generation of fan products, and a two-day event that turns cold applicants into working relationships is a cheaper front door than most.
Applications for the 2026 Affiliate Draft have been extended, now closing August 16. Apply now.
