Fan engagement platform Quarterback raises $2.5m in investment

Esports fan engagement platform Quarterback has raised $2.3m (£1.7m) in seed funding by the likes of BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, Crest Capital Ventures, Deep Space Ventures, UpWest Labs and angel investors.

This funding will be used for ‘further development of the platform and to accelerate the company’s growth on a global scale’.

Quarterback’s release states it will ‘enable gaming content creators like streamers and professional players to engage directly with their audiences by creating their own personal fan-club gaming leagues’. These leagues will reportedly operate 24/7 and players will have access to in-game daily challenges, giveaways and worldwide competitions.

Quarterback will monitor influencers and create challenges for viewers based on their most recent activities. For example: the platform will analyse fans’ performance in real-time and offer customised goals based on their current capabilities, pushing them to improve. Fans can also participate in group challenges to rival the score of a club’s leader. These features will all appear as an overlay on top of a game without the need for integration, enabling fans to interact without any interruptions.

Quarterback, CEO Jonathan Weinberg said: “With a large continuous increase in viewership and popularity, online gameplay video content makers, streamers, and professional players are looking at new ways to engage with their communities and generate revenue. Our platform allows the influencer to directly engage with their fans to create increased community involvement and a new revenue stream even while they are offline.”

BITKRAFT Esports Ventures Founding Partner Jens Hilgers commented on their investment in Quarterback: “Most streamers and pros struggle to monetise their fan-base and lose touch with their audience when the fans break-away to play their own games. Quarterback solves this problem in a unique way by helping streamers become an integral part of their fans game-play.”

This collection of investors are no stranger to esports as they hold investments in names like XSplit, Esports One, Optic Gaming, Infinite Esports and Entertainment and Ateyo.

Quarterback is available to download now and primarily works with League of Legends.

Esports Insider says: This new platform seems promising as content creators are always looking for ways to not only capitalise on their viewers but engage with them regularly. With this sizable investment, the Quarterback team now has the potential to impact content creator engagement as we know it.