Esports Tournament Company Mainline Secures $6.8M in Series A Funding Round

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• U.S. esports tournament software and management company Mainline raised $6.8M USD in a Series A funding round led by Work America Capital.
• The company plans to use the investment proceeds to improve its product, increase marketing, as well as talent and customer acquisition.
• Mainline’s current customers include ESPN’s Collegiate Esports Championship, as well as major U.S. colleges and universities.

Yesterday, esports tournament software and management company Mainline announced it had raised a $6.8M Series A financing led by Work America Capital (a venture capital firm managing a $20M fund investing in Houston-based businesses), alongside investments from individual investors in professional sports and other strategic backers.

According to the company, Mainline plans to use the funds to enhance its esports tournament software technology platform; increase its marketing presence; hire development, marketing, and sales talent; and expand its event management customer base to new significant brands.

“The world of esports and gaming is exploding; however, continuity in tournament organization is lacking, keeping the sport from really taking off in other viable and exciting markets,” said Chris Buckner, Mainline CEO, in a release. “Mainline gives brands the tools they need to run powerful esports programs that will evolve the quickly maturing industry to the benefit of players, students, and the greater esports ecosystem.”

In 2016, Mainline was spun off from Houston-based Truss (formerly doing business as FanReact) to serve the collegiate esports market specifically. Mainline licenses white-labeled tournament platforms to entities to manage, monetize, and market their esports programs.

The company has since grown beyond collegiate esports to also run online tournaments and live events for brands and gaming organizations, including DreamHack, PUBG Corp., and Clutch Gaming. Earlier this year, Mainline also worked with ESPN on its inaugural Collegiate Esports Championship.

In September, BITKRAFT Seed Fund portfolio company BoomTV acquired one of Mainline’s competitors in the collegiate esports market, American Video Game League (AVGL).

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