萝莉视频

, a platform that connects video game players with professional gamers, has raised $6 million in funding, the company said Thursday.

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The startup pairs casual聽 gamers with professional gamers who they can learn from, play with, and win more games.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 not to play with random (people), but to play with good, friendly, skilled teammates,鈥� CEO said in an interview with 萝莉视频 News.

Beliankin has a background in gaming and was a professional gamer from 2008 to 2010. He saw the lack of opportunities for highly-skilled players at the top of gaming leaderboards to turn their hobby into a profession.

鈥淲hen I was a pro player myself, there were not enough opportunities to monetize my skill or my content or anything,鈥� Beliankin said, adding that new distributing platforms have emerged since to help people monetize their content.

Beliankin鈥檚 parents and friends told him there wasn鈥檛 a future in gaming, and at one point when Beliankin was playing a game with his friends in his room and being loud, his father charged in and destroyed his computer.聽

鈥淚 was so angry at him and I told him I was going to turn it into a new profession and create 1 million new jobs,鈥� Beliankin said.聽

Beliankin dabbled in projects similar to LegionFarm, but officially founded the company in 2016. Since then, it went through the accelerator and has now raised $7.5 million in total VC funding, and has about 1,200 monthly active professional players per month, who on average make about $800 monthly.

, , , of and all participated in the round. Other investors in the company include and of .

鈥淭he world is moving to new realities, VR, AR, gaming 鈥� and in the fiery fields of computer games, some are just killing it (pun intended),鈥� TMT Investments partner and LegionFarm board member said in an email. 鈥淲hat we, at TMT Investments, loved about LegionFarm (at first sight) was the kind of winning combination that every Silicon Valley VC is seeking: a fast-growing young industry, a highly viral product, healthy unit economics, and focus on building fast growth fundamentals.鈥�

The new $6 million in funding will be used to invest in the product, the company鈥檚 desktop and mobile applications, and its hardware supply program.聽

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias