Rap music legend Drake has joined up with former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to invest in Players' Lounge, an amateur esports betting site based out of New York City.
According to the announcement, Players' Lounge has closed a $3 million seed round after concluding the winter class of Y Combinator, the high-intensity startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley.
Players' Lounge, which allows gamers to play their favorite video games against others for money, looks to tap into the growing market of gamers older than 18. While there are several money-making opportunities for gamers, like streaming or esports competitions, these typically rely on the player being massively skilled or unusually entertaining.
"Today there are 350 million gamers above the age of 18 playing online, and a very small percentage of them are making a ton of money playing professionally," said
Players' Lounge CEO and co-founder Austin Woolridge. "All the while, millions of gamers are watching the professionals and want to make money playing video games as well. Players' Lounge is giving this opportunity to everyone."
5 of the 10 games currently available (Players' Lounge)
"In 2019 we plan on expanding our development team, supporting more games, adding streaming functionality and creating new formats for our community to compete in," added Woolridge.
Drake and Mayer were joined by Strauss Zelnick, Comcast Ventures, Macro Ventures, Canaan, Sinai Ventures, Chetrit Ventures, RRE and Courtside in the round.
More: Players’ Lounge: Our Early Story
Similar: Drake Purchases Stake in the 100 Thieves Esports Team
Image: jacobmiller6 / Flickr
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