Fall sports seasons in the United States bring excitement for fans of NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL teams, as well as college football. Blake Patterson, an entrepreneur from Birmingham, Alabama, has launched Wunderfan, a consumer app designed to reward fans for their engagement with sports teams.
Wunderfan allows users to earn points by attending games, watching broadcasts, making picks on bets, and following sports news within the app. These points can be exchanged for gift cards, merchandise, and exclusive experiences offered by participating brands such as Adidas, The North Face, Sephora, and Doordash. For these brands, the platform provides a direct channel to reach dedicated fan groups.
“We’re building something that brings fans closer to the teams and events they love—and gives them real rewards for doing it,” Patterson said.
Patterson recognizes the challenge of encouraging users to adopt another daily app. “It’s simple,” he told Hypepotamus. “You have to create something people understand that they are going to get instant gratification from.”
Since its launch last year, Wunderfan has reached 100,000 users without outside funding and reports a 70 percent retention rate. The app gained significant traction when it went viral at the University of Oregon during football season. Patterson mentioned that after this success an NBA team approached his company about creating a team-specific version of the app; however, he declined in favor of building a broader platform for all sports fans.
Patterson describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur” with experience in technology and insurance sectors. He previously founded Simpeo—a professional employer organization based in Birmingham—which he later sold. As someone passionate about sports himself, Patterson said he “wanted to create something that is advantageous to sports fans.”
The company’s first product was Wunderpar—an international platform paying users to play golf—which attracted attention from major golf brands like Callaway and Titleist interested in reducing customer acquisition costs.
Wunderfan has established partnerships with local Southeast sports organizations including the JLAB Birmingham Bowl and the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Birmingham Bulls. The JLAB Birmingham Bowl—owned by ESPN Events—recently named Wunderfan its Official Fan Rewards App ahead of December’s bowl game.
The startup operates out of Innovation Depot in Birmingham’s startup ecosystem hub. Patterson emphasized his commitment to his hometown: “We’re very proud to say that we’re from Birmingham. We think that we can create something and can continue to grow [something] that the city can be proud of,” he told Hypepotamus. “I feel like we have barely scratched the surface.”
Wunderfan joins other Southeastern companies innovating fan engagement strategies; among them are Atlanta-based PrizePicks (a fantasy sports app) and PlayOn! (a sports media company).
