- High school eSports platform company PlayVS announced that it raised $50 million in Series C funding led by New Enterprise Associates
PlayVS — a platform for high school esports — announced that it raised $50 million in Series C funding. This round of funding closed in July, but it was disclosed now, according to Crunchbase.
This funding round comes only 10 months after PlayVS raised $30.5 million in Series B and 13 months after the $15.5 million Series A round. Including this round, PlayVS has raised a total of about $96 million.
New Enterprise Associates led this funding round. And Battery Ventures, Dick Costolo and Adam Bain of 01 Advisors, Michael Zeisser, Sapphire Sport, IVP general partner Dennis Phelps, and CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz also invested in this round.
Some of PlayVS’ previous investors include Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin, DST Global partner Rahul Mehta, Shea Moisture founder Rich Dennis., Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Nas, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The first PlayVS product is called “Seasons” and this platform is bringing games like League of Legends, Rocket League, and SMITE to high schools across the country. Plus PlayVS also has an exclusive partnership with the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Since the Series B round of funding, PlayVS had successfully operated two seasons. And the PlayVS platform currently has 13,000 schools on the waitlist — which represents 68% of all high schools in the US. Delane Parnell, the CEO and founder of PlayVS, told Crunchbase that many of these schools will be activated for the Fall 2019 season.
PlayVS went from five state partnerships in the fall of 2018 to eight in the spring of 2019 and is now up to 15. These partnerships enables students in those states to compete in state championships. Plus the PlayVS platform will be available to high schools across all 50 states including D.C. starting this fall.
The PlayVS platform was rebuilt over the summer and the company also hired several executives from companies like Headspace and Spotify. Now PlayVS has 41 employees.
In terms of revenue, PlayVS charges $64 per player to participate per season. This is significantly less than other sports offered at high schools. In order to scale, more coaches have to be recruited so that more players can participate.
New Enterprise Associates partner Rick Yang told Crunchbase that there is a gap in the casual and professional gameplay market and the “high school demographic is the perfect place to start to close this gap.”
