SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--XY Gaming, one of the world’s largest global esports tournament platforms where users compete for cash prizes, today announced a $2.5 million USD seed funding round co-led by KB Partners and Varga Capital. XY Gaming organizes asynchronous esports tournaments using its proprietary technology, to create a convenient and hassle-free global arena for gamers to compete in some of the world’s top games, including League of Legends and Dota 2, with support for Fortnite, Rocket League, CSGO and additional titles coming soon. The company has worked with HyperX, GFuel, PaySafeCards, Sennheiser and Pinnacle, and has hosted more than 16,000 tournaments and 12.5 million games to date, catering to gamers of all skill levels.
“The majority of the esports market has few opportunities to compete for cash prizes,” said XY Gaming co-founder and CEO Aaron Fletcher. “Through our simple, free, and one-click to enter and play platform, we enable gamers of all skill levels to take their gaming to the next level in a fair and secure environment.”
The worldwide gaming market includes 2.5 billion active gamers. While most tournaments target the top one percent of gamers, XY Gaming creates a space for all gamers that want to play competitively. The company automatically tracks players’ in-game statistics and awards scores based on performance. Payouts are distributed via Paypal, credit cards, or credit for purchases in the marketplace. Unlike some tournaments which only divvy up earnings to players in the top one percent, XY Gaming divides cash awards between 30-40 percent of all participants in a tournament to increase participation rates and odds of winning.
XY Gaming also offers brands unparalleled engagement and advertising access to its more than 100,000 registered users. The company will use the new capital to enhance its advertising offering by developing a new branded tournaments model and expanding its advertising vertical, to better enable direct brand engagement.
“Numerous brands have indicated a great disparity between what current tournament platforms offer and what brands expect, and I am excited that we now have the capital to grow XY Gaming and create this new marketing vertical that is global, inclusive and scalable," added Fletcher.
Funds will also be used to expand the team, create marketing campaigns, partnerships and influencer sponsorships to grow the site, and add new well-known game titles including Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Rocket League.
About XY Gaming
XY Gaming is the world’s largest global esports tournament platform where users compete for cash prizes across games like League of Legends and Dota 2 with support for Fortnite, Rocket League, CSGO and additional titles coming soon. XY Gaming organizes asynchronous esports tournaments, automatically monitoring players’ in-game statistics and awarding scores based on performance to create a convenient and hassle-free competitive arena for gamers of all skill levels. The company has hosted over 16 thousand tournaments and 12.5 million games to date and has attracted more than 1 million people in a single tournament. The company was co-founded in San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.xygaming.com.
About KB Partners
KB Partners is a suburban Chicago based investment firm focused on early-stage venture capital investments. KB’s principals take an active approach in helping to build dominant new enterprises by working in partnership with talented entrepreneurs and experienced managers. The firm is currently investing out of KB Partners Myriad Opportunity Fund, which invests in passionate innovators at the intersection of sports and technology.
