INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PlayVS, the platform that allows high school students to compete on varsity esports teams through their school, has today announced the
close of a $50 million Series C led by existing investor NEA
Battery Ventures, Dick Costolo and Adam Bain of 01 Advisors, Sapphire Sport, Michael Zeisser, Dennis Phelps of IVP and co-founder of CAA
months.PlayVS launched in April of 2018 under founder and CEO Delane Parnell, who believes that the opportunity of esports is fundamentally
broken without high school leagues
Through an exclusive partnership with the NFHS (the NCAA of high schools), PlayVS allows schools across the country to create esports teams
and participate in leagues with their neighboring schools, just like any other varsity sport.PlayVS also partners with the game publishers,
It was launched in October of 2018 in five states and expanded to eight states this spring.Since launch, 13,000 schools have joined the
waitlist to get a varsity esports team through PlayVS, which represents 68% of the country
PlayVS says that just over 14,000 high schools in the United States have a football program, marking the idea of varsity esports as a
relatively popular one.With the upcoming fall Season for 2019, all 50 states will have access to the PlayVS platform, with 15 states
competing for an actual State Championship in partnership with their state association
These states include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
Mississippi, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington D.C.States that have not gotten an endorsement from their state association will still
compete regionally for a PlayVS championship
PlayVS supports League of Legends, Rocket League and SMITE, with plans to support other games in the future.Not only does PlayVS offer high
school students the chance to play organized esports, but it also gives colleges and esports orgs a recruitment tool to scope and scoop
young talent.But what about that funding? Well, Parnell says that the new round gives the company a war chest to not only hire aggressively
most importantly, the company will use the funding to explore products outside of high school, with eyes squarely focused on the collegiate
With esports still in its infancy, there is a huge opportunity to provide the infrastructure of these leagues early on, and PlayVS is
