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The combined company has 11 people in San Francisco, and they will focus on a few different missions related to esports, said Alemania, in an interview with GamesBeat.

“Our mission is to be the epicenter of the esports community, so that people can find people they actually want to play with,” he said. “The idea across the pillars of that mission is to meet, compete, and get better. And we have a really strong team of people who have been in the game business for decades.”

In terms of meeting, the company wants to create a matchmaking service where esports players can find people they want to play with, rather than just play pickup multiplayer games all of the time with strangers.

In terms of “compete,” the company will also help esports players find teams, and help teams find esports players, or even help players find others so they can form esports teams. Alemania compared this to the application TeamSnap, which helps parents deal with changes and details for their children’s sports team. In the case of players, this solution would help teams figure out who is playing in a particular match or is not available. This will enable team managers to focus on team and player development, rather than logistics.

And in terms of “get better,” ReadyUp will create a marketplace for services that parties can offer, such as coaching services for Fortnite. And it will provide other services that enable players to get better and play with their friends.

“We called our friends at the major publishers and asked if they were doing this, and they all said no,” Alemania said. “We saw we could fill a need in the market. It can address a massive pain point for teams.”

The cofounders like Wendell and Hammill get asked to provide coaching, paid or not, all of the time. But this marketplace would provide an organized way to scale up such services to a much larger level, Alemania said.

San Francisco-based ReadyUp was founded in 2017 to benefit amateur and professional gamers, teams, and gaming clans. The platform is set to launch later this year, with other services coming next year. Investors include Boost VC, which led the round, as well as Fenwick & West, Smith & Crown, and other individual investors from across gaming, sports, esports, blockchain and other sectors.

“ReadyUp will change competitive video gaming and esports on a fundamental level,” said Jay Cohen, former president of Wargaming America, in a statement. “By providing an on-ramp for gamer connection, player development, and competition, ReadyUp lets every gamer, team, and the esports industry as a whole to reach their full potential. The ReadyUp platform will not only accelerate the path to revenue for players, teams, and partners, it is the spark for the wildfire that is waiting to happen.”

Lead investor Boost VC is a blockchain and virtual reality accelerator with a portfolio of more than 200 companies including Coinbase.

“ReadyUp has assembled an awesome team of accomplished, experienced and well connected executives.” said Adam Draper, founder and managing partner, in a statement. “Their process of product validation and design coupled with a feedback loop from gamers puts ReadyUp in a great position to build a successful company that will capitalize on the $900 million esports industry.”

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/20/readyup-esports-team-management-firm-raises-2-million/