#Roommates, it’s always worth acknowledging when one of us makes big moves in the world. Whether it be in music, sports, medicine, law or technology, black people know how to secure the bag in all areas. That’s just what happened recently with high school esports company PlayVS, which raised a whopping $50 million in funding.
As reportedly exclusively by @Forbes, PlayVS, which develops software used to operate high school esports competitions, just announced that it has completed a $50 million Series C funding round. New Enterprise Associates led the funding round and also spearheaded PlayVS’s $15 million Series A back in the summer of 2018. Additional investors in the recent round, included: Battery Ventures; CAA cofounder Michael Ovitz; early-stage venture fund Sapphire Sport; Michael Zeisser, former head of U.S. investments for Alibaba; Dennis Phelps of private equity firm IVP; and 01 Advisors, a fund run by former Twitter execs Dick Costolo and Adam Bain.
To get a better understanding of exactly what PlayVS is, it’s best explained this way. The PlayVS software is used by high school administrations to build esports leagues for students, which integrates directly into partnered games. The online portal then auto-reports wins and losses, schedules matches and tracks player stats.
The new funding for PlayVS will go toward its continued growth, as the company hopes to double its current head count of 41 by the end of this year. The first step in achieving this is to expand what the PlayVS app offers beyond just the seasonal leagues. There are also ambitions in conquering amateur esports space beyond high schools.
Considering how notoriously how difficult it is for black investors to raise money and PlayVS has impressively raised around $100 million so far, company CEO Delane Parnell, discussed his vision for the future:
“Our business vision has evolved. Initially, we were all about: How do we build out the best infrastructure for high school esports? We’re now thinking about how to build a 100 million-plus user subscription service around esports.”
If current evidence is any measure, the growth of PlayVS appears to be unstoppable, as teachers and administrators from over 13,000 schools have expressed interest in using PlayVS to build an esports program. Parnell is definitely grateful for the company’s remarkable funding, but notes what really matters to him, saying “raising money is cool, but the impact that we’re having on kids today is way more important to us.”
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
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