Legionfarm has raised $5.9 million for its service to connect ordinary gamers pro gamers around the world. The idea is to help spread the skills to the wannabees who would love to get tips on how to get better. So rather than filling that last squad spot with a random player with no mic, you could get someone who may actually contribute to a win.
The money came from SVB, Y Combinator, Scrum VC, Altair Capital, Kevin Lin (Twitch), Ankur Nagpal (Teachable), and others.
The San Francisco company employs almost a thousand pro gamers, who make real money as mercenaries in games like Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, World of Warcraft, and The Division. I could definitely use some help getting more wins by teaming up with the pros in Warzone.
In an interview, founder Alex Beliankin said the onboarding process for pros is highly automated, so skilled players are able to quickly and easily monetize their talents. Experienced players command up to $17 per hour, and may operate as little or as much as desired.
“We let gamers pay to play together with the pro players, helping them have more fun in games and to find a good teammates,” Beliankin said. “We mainly operate in battle royale games as well as massively multiplayer online games. It’s really a more entertaining way to play a game.”
Founded in 2016, Legionfarm previously raised $1.5 million in 2019 from TMT Investments and Denis Smetnev (Vimbox). Altogether, the company has 80 full-time employees, not counting the active pro players. The development team is in Russia.
“The pro gamer is working full time as if that was their job. And their job is to be a good teammate,” Beliankin said. “It’s very important to match players’ personalities.”