Game.tv Closes $25M Round

Game.tv, the AI-powered Esports Tournament Platform, today announced the closing of its $25 million round, led by Intel Capital. Game.tv also announced the launch of its platform via Discord and tournament web app, which allows players to set up and operate tournaments directly through the Discord app, Twitter, and Facebook. The new funding, Discord bot, and web app will help grow Game.tv's mobile gaming communities through tournament sponsorships and additional plugins, and scale the development of Game.tv's core product, Tourney.

"In researching the emergence and growth of mobile esports, we identified Game.tv as having unique technology and business model," said Lisa Hanson, Managing Partner at Niko Partners. "As the mobile esports segment expands, Game.tv is well positioned to build a substantial user base, scale its services, and be an important player in this space."

While traditional sports have had the time and structure to bring players from tee-ball and little league to the MLB, or from driveway hoops to the NBA, esports are unique. Esports are played on a million different "fields," and there is not a direct path for players to go from amateur to pro. Game.tv was founded on the belief that community-based esports is fundamental to a healthy esports ecosystem – an ecosystem that currently focuses only on professionals.

Rosen Sharma, CEO of Game.tv, said, "AI is the key. In esports today it is difficult to make money unless you are running large professional tournaments and events. Most tournaments run and make money from sponsorships, which exist only for the big events. AI doesn't need to make money in order to host an event, thus enabling tournaments in communities at any scale so long as people are willing to participate."

Tourney layers on top of existing gaming communities. For instance, Animal Tower Battle, a game with a vibrant community on Discord in Japan, has integrated Tourney to run weekly tournaments precisely where players spend the bulk of their time. The AI learns about the community and adapts to it. Similarly, hundreds of streamers and content creators with Discord servers have adopted Tourney to run thousands of tournaments directly in their communities. In the same way, communities on Twitter and Facebook can run tournaments natively in their respective communities using the Game.tv web app with deep links into both platforms.

Arun Chetty, Managing Director at Intel Capital, added, "When Game.tv's platform crossed 10,000 tournaments in a short period of time, we sensed something big was going on here. As a big supporter of both esports and emerging technologies, Intel is always looking for ways to accelerate adoption of esports. We believe that Game.tv has a unique vision and technology and with this funding, they can gain a big piece of the esports market segment."

About Game.tv

Game.tv is an AI-based esports tournament platform headquartered in Silicon Valley with a team across 20+ countries including Korea and Japan. Game.tv is led by gamers with strong track records of building mobile games and growing the mobile esports fan and player base. The company's core product is Tourney, an AI-powered esports assistant that can run tournaments from start to finish. Game.tv was founded in 2018 and is backed by blue chip investors and partners around the world, including Intel Capital. Tourney is currently available for over 60 games, and more games are being added weekly. For more information, visit https://www.game.tv/.

About Intel Capital

Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, datacenter and cloud, 5G, next-generation compute and a wide range of other disruptive technologies. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US$12.6 billion in more than 1,560 companies worldwide, and 677 portfolio companies have gone public or participated in a merger. Intel Capital curates thousands of business development introductions each year between its portfolio companies and the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world's most powerful venture capital firms, visit http://www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.