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Legionfarm has raised $5.9 million for its service to connect ordinary gamers to highly-skilled professional gamers around the world. The idea is to help spread the skills of hardcore gamers to the wannabees who would love to get tips on how to get busy.
Legionfarm connects gamers to highly-skilled pros all over the world to form winning teams. So, rather than filling that last squad spot with a random (random player) with no mic, you get someone who will 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 globally, who make real money as mercenaries in games like Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, World of Warcraft, and The Division. Legionfarm is helping people make real money playing videogames — everyone from a kid on a goat farm in Russia to a man recovering from knee surgery in Iowa. I could definitely use some help getting more wins by teaming up with the pros in Warzone.
Above: Legionfarm has 80 employees.
Image Credit: Legionfarm
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.”
Beliankin said that Legionfarm that gamers have the chance with Legionfarm to turn their hobbies into well-paying jobs. They can get matched with squads from all different walks of life, and coach less-experienced players — making them better at the game and providing reliable, enjoyable companions to play with.
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.”
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