Esports One, a startup with a dream to bring fantasy to esports, reports an additional 4 million dollars in funding.
When we first wrote about Esports one in April, co-founder and co-operator Sharon Winter described it as being the first “all-in-one fantasy platform” in esports, enabling you to study players, create imagination teams and watch games.
The development of this platform required a collection of data and analytics products, as well as computer vision technologies, that could monitor game behavior (and update player stats) without using the publisher’s API, according to the Esports One team.
The startup says that its user base increased by over 25 percent a month. This may also have benefited from a professional esports rest earlier this year though CEO and co-founder Matt Gunnin recently told me that he also sees fantasy as a medium for a larger audience to make video games available — he remembered one user of Esports One who introduced the League of Legends through the imagination network to his sister.
“He is watching a baseball game and telling me everything that’s happening, using the example of growing up and sitting with my father says, Gunnin. “Then it’s the other way round — parents sit and see their children.”
“This is a point of entry… if we can make it easily accessible to individuals who play video games hardcore, and to League of Legends, and to anyone who has no idea what is going on,” he said many families are never going to pick a click and play a keyboard and League of Legends,” but could be playing a fantasy version.
Led by XSeed Capital, Eniac Projects, and Chestnut Street Ventures, the latest funding has boosted Esports One to $7.3 million. A collaboration with lifestyle company ESL Gaming was also recently concluded by the company.
Gunnin says the cash is going to make it easier for the company to increase its bytes of virtual currency, which is used by players to join tournaments and purchase customizations. It also operates on iOS and Android applications (Esports One is currently accessible via desktop and mobile web).
In addition, Gunnin and his team will create Rainbow Six creativity competitions: Siege, Rocket League, Valorant, and Fortnite.
“We have seen the great determination and determination of a fairly new player in the sports world by Matt, Sharon and the whole team of Esports One to become a household name,” said Damon Cronkey, XSeed’s, in his tweet. “I am delighted to work with an organization that provides a changing industry with new insights and features. We are looking forward to seeing how Esports One will expand in 2021.”
