All-in-one competitive gaming platform Gankster has announced a $4.25 million seed round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Hetz Ventures with participation from Overwolf and Samsung Next. The round was also joined by prominent angel investors including Doron Nir, Presider and Founder of StreamElements; Doron Kagan, Founder of Gameplay Galaxy; and Daniel Burns, partner at Oakvale Capital. Gankster has announced that the funding amount will be used to attract top talent, expand to additional games, fund competitions, and support grassroots and online gaming communities.
Gankster was founded by lifelong friends and gamers, and it is building the operating system for competitive gaming, bringing structure and accessibility to the eSports ecosystem while providing an easy path for both casual and hardcore players to compete. Since it offers an all-in-one platform, Gankster is used by players to form teams, compete in ladders, practice against each other, and also track match data. The platform centralizes the eSports industry into one network that connects teams, individuals, publishers, tournament organizers, and brands.
These connections between all elements result in effective organic growth which leads to a more than 80% increase in daily active teams in Q3 alone with zero marketing spend. Gankster directly connects to the game. It is operating with a dedicated API which allows for real-time data extraction and automates between the platform and the game itself. Gankster is currently working across multiple titles including League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League, and Dota 2. Additional mobile games and battle royale games will be added to the platform soon.
Uriya Schwarz, Gankster CEO details:
For the everyday gamer, finding a team and competitions is a challenge as the market is fragmented and traditionally relies on Discord and spreadsheets. Gankster offers a comprehensive and accessible environment for professional growth for every gamer in the world, from the pros to the casual players, by connecting all steps of the competitive gamer’s journey in one place.
Gankster’s robust features include:
- G-Ladder: Leaderboard-style competitions designed for casual gamers to experience playing like the esports pros by proving their skillset among similarly ranked teams, setting their own schedule, and competing for prizes.
- Discord Integrations: This integration feeds real-time content from Gankster, such as practice requests posted by teams, into Discord servers. Players that connect their Discord accounts can receive all their notifications using Gankster’s Discord Bot, creating a more seamless experience.
- Other notable features: practice booking system, player recruitment, social team calendar.
To address major problems in gaming such as toxicity and ensure inclusivity, Gankster has launched GANKREP 1.0. It is a reputation system that fosters inclusiveness, integrity, professionalism, and overall good sportsmanship in eSports. With this system in place, the platform tracks player activity in-app and in-game and collects post-match peer reviews. Activities such as how many requests a team responds to, how fast, and the match cancellation rate. The peer review function uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate a player’s rating based on a peer’s response to four questions about the match. Alex Ferrara, Bessemer Venture Partners added:
Consumer demand for competitive gaming is at an all-time high after growing steadily for decades and has always been a global phenomenon spanning many age groups, demographics, and geographies. However, the process of finding a team and then properly matching, practicing, and competing was broken until the launch of Gankster. Motivated by their love for competitive games, the Gankster team built the leading online community to solve this problem. We at Bessemer think it will not only delight gamers but will drive the industry forward as potential new revenue streams open up for stakeholders across the board.
For additional details, you can check out the official website of Gankster.