Cathie Woods' ARK Invest has made its first-ever lead investment in a startup called Lucra. The firm believes the software platform, which transforms corporate loyalty programs into interactive events like eSports tournaments, could be a hit with customers including Five Iron Golf and Chess Kings.

The $20 million Series B round was led by the ARK fund, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Astralis Capital, Harlo Equity Partners, Simplex Ventures, SeventySix Capital, and WTI. For ARK Invest, this is a significant departure – not only for being their first lead investment but also due to past mishaps with companies like Skillz.

ARK's director of research Nick Grous explained that the fund had grown familiar with Lucra through its previous Series A round, and they were impressed by the founder Dylan Robbins' answers during multiple calls. "No matter how many times we went at him, his conviction was unwavering," Woods said.

Despite the hype around AI, ARK Invest is keeping an eye on other opportunities in the gaming space like Epic Games, Kalshi, and Discord, acknowledging that there are still valuable companies outside of the tech's current spotlight. "We’ve been underwriting the sports-betting space, understanding the gamification aspects of entertainment," said Grous.