After raising $3m (~£2.70m) through a funding round led by Upload Ventures, game monetisation platform Tipspace has officially launched in Brazil.
The platform allows people to play for money by waging in their games. The player needs to pay to enter the matchmaking and, through that, every match in the platform will have a monetary prize at the end.
Although players ‘bet’ in their own matches, Tipspace is not exactly a betting platform as users will use their own abilities to win the prize. Using the leverage from Upload Ventures investment, the company aims to be the biggest waging company in Latin America.
To achieve that, an international expansion is planned still for 2022. By the end of 2023, Tipspace aims to have reached over 500,000 users across all countries in Latin America, moving around $17m (~£15.22m) in the platform.
In an official press release, Upload Ventures Co-founder and Manager, Rodrigo Baer, commented on what attracted the company to the investment: “Tipspace is doing something that no company in the world has been able to do. What attracted us was the knowledge of the team, the potential of the business and the way in which they promote the entire sector.”
At its launch, Tipspace supports League of Legends 1v1 matches. The integration of the game into the platform was authorised by Riot Games.
The company’s founders are no strangers to Riot. The platform’s creator and CEO João Sobreira is also one of the founders of Brazilian esports organisation Rensga. Other members of the company’s board are also associated with the organisation, such as Djary Veiga.
Although an official announcement has not been made yet, it was first published by the Brazilian website GE and confirmed by Esports Insider that Rensga sold its franchise spot in the Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLOL).
Esports Insider asked Tipspace what the launch of a new company can tell about Rensga’s future, but as official communications on the franchise sale are not out yet, the company chose to not comment on it.