Mentioned in this article
- American esports platform builder PlayVS closed a $50M USD Series C investment led by existing investor, New Enterprise Associates.
- This latest investment brings PlayVS’ total funding to $96M following a $15M Series A in June 2018 and a $30.5M Series B in November 2018.
- The company’s esports platform will be available in all 50 U.S. states in October, while 13K schools are on the waitlist to build an esports program through PlayVS.
Today, PlayVS, a software startup building a platform for competitive esports experiences focusing on high school esports, announced it raised a $50M Series C led by return investor, New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Battery Ventures, Dick Costolo and Adam Bain of 01 Advisors, Michael Zeisser, Sapphire Sports, Dennis Phelps of Institutional Venture Partners, and Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Create Artists Agency.
This latest investment round brings the company’s total funding to $96M. In June 2018, PlayVS raised a $15M Series A funding round from investors including the San Francisco 49ers, CrossCut Ventures, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, and New Enterprise Associates. In November 2018, the company closed a $30.5M Series B funding round led by Elysian Park Ventures, the investment arm of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group.
The U.S. software startup’s first product was released in October 2018, bringing League of Legends to high schools in five states. Starting this October, PlayVS’ platform will be available in all 50 U.S. states. According to the company, over 13K schools, which represent 68% of the country’s schools, are on the waitlist to build an esports program through PlayVS (for comparison, 14.2K high schools in the U.S. have an American football program).
“This fresh round of funding will help PlayVS to grow even faster and support the launch of new competitive experiences beyond ‘Seasons’ in the high school market,” said Delane Parnell, founder and CEO of PlayVS in a release. “Our Series C also gives us a license to be bold as we set out to capture more of the amateur esports space.”
The participation fee for the PlayVS Fall Season 2019-2020 is $64 per player, paid for by either the parent/guardian or the school. Fifteen states will compete for a State Championship, endorsed by their state association while states not supported by their state association will compete regionally for a PlayVS Championship.
