The emergent industry of daily fantasy eSports (DFeS) witnessed another milestone last week as DFeS upstart Vulcun.com announced they are increasing their 2015 guaranteed prize pool from $4 millon to $10 million.
Site grows as sport grows
The fanbase and financial ecosystem for competitive gaming are both trending on an incline and Vulcun’s guaranteed prize pool is following suit.
While competitive gaming has millions of passionate fans, very few have the skill, time, or resources to become a professional player.
“Vulcun.com provides the connection between fans and the emerging stars and teams in eSports,” says Josh Hannah of Matrix Partners, who participated in Vulcun’s latest funding round.
Hannah is known within the online gambling industry for pioneering work with betting exchange Flutter, which eventually became Betfair.
Vulcun’s guaranteed prize pool for 2015 has steadily increased, starting at $250k in January, then growing to $1mm in February, $4mm in March, and now a whopping $10mm by May.
According to Vulcun’s press release, nearly $2mm in prizes have already been paid out. With the most successful user grossing roughly $66k this year so far, with several other users winning over $25k.
Vulcun co-founder Ali Moiz has asserted eSports is already the second most-watched sport in North America after the National Football League.
27 million people tuned in to The Riot World Championship, it was the most watched eSports event of 2014 which was a little smaller than the 32 million viewers who tuned in to the annual event in 2013. Compare that with Game 7 of the 2014 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals which drew an average viewership of 23.5 million.
Investment interest follows
“We really believe in the long-term potential of eSports and Fantasy Leagues.” says Sequoia partner and Vulcun board member Omar Hamoui.
Seeing promise in Vulcun, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital partnered with Vulcun this past April, heading a group of 8 investors that raised $12mm in a series A round of financing.
