Esports revenues are expected to exceed a billion dollars per year for the first time with no end in growth in sight as the industry continues to attract players, teams, and fans at an explosive pace. Competitive video gaming is a serious business with lucrative rewards for those that are the most skilled. Mobalytics is a feature-driven personal gaming assistant to drive performance for competitive gamers. At its core, the Mobalytics gaming analytics platform has four robust functions – analysis of player performance, identification of player strengths and weaknesses while pinpointing how t improve, development of pregame strategies before matches with key insights about allies and enemies, a detailed post-game analysis. Mobalytics is currently available for games such as League of Legends and is used by some of the top esports organizations such as Team Liquid, T1, and Golden Guardians (the esports affiliate of Golden State Warriors).
LA TechWatch caught up with Co-CEO and Warchied of Science Amine Issa to learn more about building an infrastructure company that supports esports, the state of the industry, and the company’s recent funding round, which brings the total funding raised to $13.9M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Mobalytics has raised $11.25M Series A led by Almaz Capital and Cabra VC. The other investors participating in the round include HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic, and T1 Esports.
Tell us about the product or service Mobalytics offers.
Mobalytics is the leading analytics platform and personal gaming assistant dedicated to helping video game fans master their favorite games.
What inspired the start of Mobalytics?
We launched Mobalytics in 2016. Being avid gamers and enthusiasts, we wanted to get better at our favorite games – but there weren’t any tools or platforms to do this. So, we decided to take it on ourselves and saw demand from other players. In the last two years, we have expanded our product from one game to four. We feel confident we created something players like, and we are ready to expand to even more games in the future.
How is Mobalytics different?
We are bringing science to esports. We have created our own vertical gaming support.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
We are targeting gamers worldwide. Approximately 2.7B people around the world play video games, and it’s only expected to grow.
What’s your business model?
Our business model is premium with a lot of things available for free. We have a light version for free and a premium upgrade. We plan to introduce more premium options to improve the overall experience and plan to launch this in the near future.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
Thankfully, we are lucky enough to be in a business where our core product is unaffected, even bolstered by the crisis. We are also primarily remote, so it was easy to transition. My heart goes out to the businesses that are suffering during this time, and I hope that they can get through these tough times.
What was the funding process like?
It was a standard fundraising process over the course of 6 months, nothing special. Prepare materials and a pipeline, pitch to a ton of investors, and see what happens.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The current climate is the biggest challenge by far. A lot of investors are playing their cards close to the chest and being very cautious about forecasting the future.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
They have worked closely with us over the last few years and have seen us go through ups and downs, and during that time, we have been able to develop a strong relationship and level of trust. We are really excited to move forward together.
They have worked closely with us over the last few years and have seen us go through ups and downs, and during that time, we have been able to develop a strong relationship and level of trust.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We want to hire some key players, specifically developers and product managers for our different games. That will help us tighten down our expanded game roster and really focus on quality and making great features people will want to purchase.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Our goal is to make our platform bulletproof and focus on quality to really deliver some of the features we have been wanting to make over the years.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Kobawoo!
