PlayVS raises $50 million in Series C round

North American high school esports platform PlayVS has raised $50 million (£40.1 million) in its Series C funding round.

The round was led by NEA and saw participation from Battery Ventures, Dick Costolo and Adam Bain of 01 Advisors, Michael Zeisser, Sapphire Sports, Dennis Phelps, General Partner at IVP, and Michael Ovitz, Co-founder of CAA.

Delane Parnell, founder and CEO of PlayVS discussed the round in a release: “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. Our Series C also gives us a license to be bold as we set out to capture more of the amateur esports space.”

The company will use the capital to double its workforce, which currently at 41 employees, by the end of the year in an effort to aid its growth. It’s also launching ‘Seasons’ for high schools in all 50 states in autumn.

Rick Yang, Partner at NEA also commented: “We’ve believed in Delane’s vision for PlayVS since its founding and we’re honored to continue partnering with the company through this next phase of growth. It’s been tremendously exciting to witness PlayVS catalyze the growth of high school esports — and this is just the beginning! The platform has the promise and potential to shape the future of esports at scale.”

PlayVS has now raised a total of $96 million (£77.06 million) in funding. It raised $30.5M through its Series B round in November last year. It was led by Elysian Park Ventures and saw the likes of adidas, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Samsung NEXT participate.

Esports Insider says: It’s no secret that PlayVS has a very impressive roster of investors but the truly interesting detail to pay attention to is the total amount of funding that has been raised in just over a year. It’s almost always a costly experience to launch a nationwide project from nothing but this is a significant amount of money to be putting to use – it’s a testament to the faith held by everybody involved.