Gaming platform Plays.tv announced its $15 million Series A funding round Thursday, and some traditional sports players got involved. Such has been the norm over the past 18 months in eSports.
Brooklyn Nets point guard Jeremy Lin and owners/executives from the San Francisco 49ers participated in the round in addition to Accel Partners, Tenaya Capital, DAG Ventures, Founders Fund and Shasta Ventures, who led the financing.
What originally launched in 2015 as part of Raptr, an optimization gaming platform, Plays.tv spun off and is now an independent startup company. It will use the investment to bring new features to the recording, replaying and social sharing platform.
“Plays.tv grew very quickly since its launch and our community really embraced the platform not just for the social sharing but for replaying and improving as players,” Plays.tv CEO Dennis Fong said in a statement. “With Shasta and our other investors, we are in a great position to make Plays.tv the most personal and relevant source of gameplay content, and the de facto platform to replay and share videos to get better at your game.”
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Added Lin, who is an avid gamer and involved with a Dota 2 eSports team: “Similar to watching game tape after NBA games, I love how Plays.tv allows gamers to analyze their own replays. This enables players to identify what’s working and what can be improved. I’m excited to see the pros continue to transform their game with tools like Plays.tv.”
Like Lin, Brano Perkovich, who is the Chief Investment Officer of the San Francisco 49ers, had similar sentiments, saying that the gaming platform is “as essential to gamers as reviewing tape is to NFL coaches.” The investment from the 49ers is through an investment fund associated with owners and executives and not one being made by the team.
“We believe Plays.tv can become a tool that PC gamers can’t live without,” Perkovich added.
Some eSports organizations, such as Team SoloMid (TSM), call Plays.tv their “most important training tool” for competition as they’re able to instantly replay their games and jump to tagged events to analyze their performance. It even allows for sharing highlights to social channels Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, among others.
“Our players use Plays.tv after every match to replay and analyze their mistakes. It’s super easy to use, and anyone who likes to play games can get better like a pro,” Andy Dinh, General Manager and owner for Team SoloMid (TSM), said in a statement. “