Tusk Venture Partners is the only venture capital firm at the nexus of technology and regulation. TVP is an early-stage venture capital firm based in NYC, focused on investing in technology startups operating in highly-regulated markets.

Tusk Venture Partners

Grilla

Grilla is revolutionizing the esports experience, giving players and viewers the opportunity to earn money playing.

Grilla's platform gives players the ability to establish tournaments, organize brackets, handle entry fees, and distribute prize money. It includes a built-in wallet and proprietary real-money gaming features, crowdfunded prize pools, and the option for fans to support players' entry fees. The platform supports more than 100 game titles including Call of Duty, Madden NFL, Valorant, Fortnite, and League of Legends. During the beta testing phase, it attracted over 20,000 registered users who organized more than 1,000 tournaments.

A foundational component to the next generation of digital entertainment.

Esports

Grilla Raises $3M in Funding

Grilla's platform gives players the ability to establish tournaments, organize brackets, handle entry fees, and distribute prize money. It includes a built-in wallet and proprietary real-money gaming features, crowdfunded prize pools, and the option for fans to support players' entry fees. The platform supports more than 100 game titles including Call of Duty, Madden NFL, Valorant, Fortnite, and League of Legends. During the beta testing phase, it attracted over 20,000 registered users who organized more than 1,000 tournaments.Funding and financialsIn January 2023, Grilla raised USD 3 million in a funding round led by Tusk Venture Partners. The funds were earmarked for platform development to offer players a digital solution for prize payouts.

Stakester is a platform for gamers to compete against one another for cash prizes. The platform was launched in May 2020 and is currently available in 38 US states, the UK, and Singapore. As of November 2020, the platform has more than 15,000 users. Stakester has also established partnerships with ESL (Electronic Sports League) and GameByte (competitive gaming community).Stakester’s management includes Gary J. Foreman (co-founder of Rockstar Games) and Alan Patmore (former EVP and GM at Humble Bundle, GM of Mafia Wars and CityVille at Zynga), who joined as a strategic advisor and board member in June 2020.In November 2020, the company raised USD 2.7 million in seed funding led by RTP Global with participation from angel investors Jens Lapinski (CEO of Angel Invest and former MD of Techstars) and Chris Adelsbach (founding partner at Outrun Ventures and venture partner at Techstars). The funds will be used to grow its community by increasing the value of prizes on the platform. In addition, the company plans to expand its platform to Australia and Germany in the near future.

Stakester

Peru-based ESGPlay operates an esports platform that creates competitive esports tournaments.

ESGPlay

eMasters is a Brazilian esports platform that facilitates the creation of esports competitions with cash prizes. The platform supports games including League of Legends, Dota 2, and FIFA 19.

eMasters

Gaming Frog is a console based online esports tournament platform. The platform offers single player and multiplayer competitive matchups for cash prizes in FIFA.The platform officially launched in August 2019 and since has seen over 1,500 matches being played on the platform.Since launch, the platform claims to have attracted 3,500 users. The company has raised USD 150,000 from friends and family and is in the process of raising a USD 400,000 seed round. The company outlined plans to launch on Android, expand its development team, integrate artificial intelligence (AI), introduce a membership model and bring in NBA and Madden games into the platform.

Gaming Frog

NAG Studios is a Swedish startup focused on creating esports games and platforms. It was founded by esports and gaming industry veterans Peter Stahl (former head of development at Resolution Games, a game studio focused on augmented and virtual reality) and Johan Skott (former esports product owner at Tobii Tech, a unit of technology company Tobii AB). NAG’s vision entails building an esports game and platform which will incorporate the community (i.e., professional players, streamers, broadcasters, and viewers) from the beginning of the development process.The company raised USD 1 million in an extended pre-seed funding round led by London Venture Partners in October 2020. The company aims to use the funds to build its development team.

NAG Studios

Companies facilitating communication among esports players or between players and esports communities during gameplay.

Companies operating esports arenas and providing technical expertise for hosting and broadcasting competitive leagues and tournaments. 

Companies facilitating competitive online and in-person esports tournaments.

Companies producing and broadcasting esports related content.

Companies recruiting players to form professional teams and rosters for esports tournaments and leagues.

Companies developing esports related titles.

Commonly used in the tournament platforms segment to match players of equal skill

Grilla

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