ProGuides Secures $5M Seed Round

ProGuides, an eSports learning platform where committed gamers get better, today announced a $5 million seed funding round led by M13 with participation from previous pre-seed investors Amplify LA, Quest Venture Partners, and the GFR Fund. Funding will allow the company to make strategic hires, further invest in marketing and build out new content capabilities.

A master class for gamers, ProGuides produces high-quality, curriculum-based and video-led content that introduces new players to competitive games or helps established gamers elevate their skill with hyper-focused and highly visualized instruction. After 20,000 paid sessions, ProGuides has recently exited a successful beta launch of its market-unique, on-demand coaching platform where subscribers were paired with professional players for individualized support. While coaching was the feature's initial intent, subscribers have reimagined the service as a fun opportunity to play with "celebrity" gamers, while semi-experienced players are separately connecting with coaches to bypass a game's random matching system and get the most of their limited playing time.

"ProGuides is the definitive platform to help gamers get better," said Sam Wang, CEO of ProGuides. "With M13 by our side, we'll accelerate our technological development, introduce new content and engage our growing audience in totally new ways. 2020 will be a marquee year for eSports learning, and we're excited to be leading the market's development."

The team will be bringing creative, production and editing capabilities in-house by installing a new, dedicated filming studio and hiring across engineering, content development, and marketing. ProGuides will also look to further longstanding relationships with top influencers and professional gamers to launch new titles and expand its roster of top-tier coaches.

"ProGuides is taking coaching and skills development into the gaming world," said M13 Partner Gautam Gupta. "ProGuides is off to a great start having built a highly active, fast-growing eSports community, and M13 is excited to help accelerate their reach across new games and new gamers."

ProGuides currently supports eight titles and expects to expand to 20 by the end of 2020. The most popular courses include "League of Legends," "Fortnite" and "Hearthstone." The company also serves as the exclusive course provider for longtime partner Wizards of the Coast's "Magic: The Gathering," helping thousands of fans learn how to transition from the iconic tabletop game to the online platform, "Arena."

For more information, visit: http://www.proguides.com

About ProGuides:
As a master class for gamers, ProGuides is an eSports learning platform where a million+ committed gamers get better. Users enjoy free courses that rotate weekly while pro subscribers access ProGuides' entire catalog of 55 courses across eight of gaming's most competitive titles. Featuring Fortnite, Counter-Strike, and League of Legends, the platform also launched a new coaching platform that pairs students with professional players for individualized instruction. Since exiting beta, ProGuides has conducted 20,000 paid sessions and welcomed 300 coaches to its roster. Fueling this tremendous growth are 20 employees at its Los Angeles headquarters and $6.7M in total seed funding across two rounds from notable investors including M13, Amplify LA, Quest Venture Partners and the GFR Fund. In 2020, the company will bring production in-house with a dedicated content studio, expand its course catalog to 12 titles and aggressively invest in key hires. For more information, visit proguides.com.