Community Gaming, the “premier” all-in-one global earnings platform and competitive organizer, recently announced the closing of its “oversubscribed” Series A at $16 million.
The investment round was reportedly led by SoftBank Group via its SB Opportunity Fund, along with contributions from Animoca Brands, Binance Labs, BITKRAFT Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners.
Additional investors “span multiple sectors, including CoinFund, Hashed, Multicoin Capital, Shima Capital, Polygon Studios, and ConsenSys Mesh.” Angel investors “include Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff Zirlin, and Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games.”
Community Gaming began as “an in-person competitive esports and gaming tournament operator, providing organizers and players of all levels.”
In 2019, Community Gaming “transitioned to a hybrid platform of in-person and online events, using blockchain-based smart contracts to provide an all-encompassing competitive gaming experience from signup to instant payment.” By early 2022, Community Gaming “reached the 100,000 unique registered users milestone on its platform.”
As a result of the Series A, Community Gaming will “expand both its global footprint and platform offerings.”
The major platform update “expected later this year will allow users to earn supplemental income on the blockchain through gamified ‘Quests’ within the Community Gaming system.”
As noted in an update shared with CI, this ‘Earnings for Everyone’ approach “enables Community Gaming to reward users for action and time with the platform instead of focusing on only the most skilled in competition.”
Chris Gonsalves, CEO of Community Gaming, stated:
“Community Gaming’s position at the intersection of esports and blockchain technology grants us a tremendous opportunity to lead the growing conversation around gaming in web3. These resources will allow us to further support ‘Earnings for Everyone’ systems that reward action and time, a re-imagining of the social contract of work as people look for new ways to create supplemental income through gaming.”
As mentioned in the announcement, Community Gaming will use this capital injection “to grow operations in Latin America and Southeast Asia.”
The expansion “brings economic benefits to underserved regions within the two markets through job creation, local business engagement, and flagship competitive events. At the outset, events will focus on underserved demographics as a way to introduce gaming to a wider audience.”
Benjamin Lizana, investment leader at SoftBank Latin America Fund, remarked:
“We’re excited to partner with Chris and the Community Gaming team who are building Web3 gaming infrastructure to disrupt traditional games as well as crypto gaming industry. We recognize strong tailwinds for the crypto gaming infrastructure space globally and are excited by the pace at which it has gained traction in Latin America, where Brazil ranks highly on gaming infrastructure usage. We look forward to continue supporting CG in their expansion “
Additionally, Community Gaming will donate “a portion of the funding to its Play2Earn foundation.”
The nonprofit supports the grassroots growth of gaming “for low income individuals and communities around the world by providing grants to competitive organizers.” To date, the P2E foundation has “provided over $100,000 in grants.”
Community Gaming claims to be “the all-in-one esports competition platform, offering cutting edge infrastructure to key industry stakeholders.”
Via its seamless UX, “plus highly scalable and efficient blockchain payment technology, the platform equips players, competition organizers, and game developers with the tools they need to create, facilitate, and participate in esports tournaments.”
Community Gaming “believes in Earnings for Everyone, where the massive gains of the wider esports and gaming industry are decentralized and accessible via web3 technology to reward action and time.”
People who love games should have “a reliable avenue to supplement their current income by gaming, no matter the skill level.”