Skillz has grown its mobile esports substantially this year, as the company announced its revenue rate has grown to $400 million in August, compared to $200 million just five months before in February.
The San Francisco startup provides a platform to turn any mobile game on iOS and Android into a game you can play with friends or strangers for cash, prizes, or points. And it enables esports tournaments for games that integrate the Skillz platform.
It took skills more than 36 months to generate its first $50 million annual run rate, and it took just eight to hit a $100 million run rate in May 2017. Since that time, Skillz has continued its impressive growth spurt.
The company now runs over two million tournaments a day, double the volume from its last financial announcement in April. The platform now operates esports competitions for 13,000 game studios, nearly double the 8,000 studios announced in April 2018. With more than 18 million players, Skillz has awarded over $300 million in prizes and has hosted over 800 million tournaments.
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The past 5 months have marked record growth for Skillz, as the company awarded over $100 million in prizes across nearly half a billion competitions.
Above: Skillz logo
Investment group Goldman Sachs recently projected eSports revenue to reach $3 billion by 2022. The Goldman Sachs report expects prize pools to grow 30 percent year-over-year for each of the next five years. Skillz itself currently awards $20 million in prizes each month – 10 times the amount of prizes it awarded monthly in 2016.
“The Skillz platform capitalizes on the phenomenal growth of esports,” says Andrew Paradise, CEO and founder of Skillz, in a statement. “We are the first company to democratize esports for players and game developers, and the first company to do it at scale.”
In addition to doubling its revenue run-rate for the second time this year, the company also recently hosted the largest solitaire tournament in history, awarding $100,000 in prizes to the top 1,000 mobile solitaire players in the world.
“Skillz has been relentless in its mission to shape the future of eSports,” says Ryan Moore, founder of venture capital firm Accomplice, in a statement. “Not only has Skillz laid the foundation for mobile esports, it has been one of the primary driving forces for the industry’s meteoric growth.”
Founded in 2012, Skillz is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by leading venture capitalists as well as the owners of the New England Patriots, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Mets and Sacramento Kings. Skillz raised $25 million in December 2017.
The number of players grew from 9 million in June 2016 to 12 million in May 2017, 15 million in April 2018, and 18 million in September 2018.
