Super League Gaming, Inc., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based operator of a recreational league that brings gamers together for a collaborative gameplay experience in theaters, closed a Series B funding round of undisclosed amount.
Backers included theater chain Cinemark Theatres, a SoftBank affiliated fund, and multiple institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore. The new investors joined Quadrant Management, a New York based private equity group with global operations, as shareholders in Super League.
The company will use the funds to launch participatory theater gaming in new markets domestically this year, and expand the portfolio of PC and mobile games to be played in theaters around the world in 2016.
Founded in 2014 and led by John Miller and Ann Hand, Super League allows players to compete as they socialize in a face-to-face environment while playing a variety of popular games. Working in partnership with three large theater chains — Cinemark Theatres, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Theatres, as well as luxury chain iPic Theaters — Super League allows gamers of all ages to gather in their local movie theaters and compete on the big screen.
Gamers bring their laptops or mobile devices to the theater and play in the first-person view on their devices, while Super League’s technology merges all players into a single aerial view projected onto the movie screen where people can catch all the action. During each six-week league session, gamers compete on teams to climb a national leaderboard and vie for the first place prize.
Following a summer preseason tour across 25 major cities and active engagement with over 10,000 gamers, the company will launch its first official Fall League session on Oct. 6 with Minecraft. The fall session will further expand Super League into over 70 active U.S. theater gaming arenas. Super League plans to add multiple other mainstream game titles in the coming months.
FinSMEs
01/09/2015