PlayBrain produces esports content and manages tournament operations, working with publishers and brands to deliver large-scale events and marketing. The company aims to establish Japan’s nascent esports ecosystem, expand into additional esports and entertainment properties, and build on its partnership with the League of Legends Japan League. PlayBrain works with publishers and partners including Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, EA, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Twitch, Supercell, Alienware, and Intel. The company recently soft-launched taiyoro.gg, a media platform to introduce esports culture to Japanese fans, and joined Future Design Shibuya, an open innovation hub in Shibuya City. PlayBrain reported that its events grew 2.5× in audience reach last year and cites Japan esports market projections (Japan esports revenue topped $56M in 2019 and is expected to reach $141M by 2023) as market context. The company was founded in 2016 and currently has 30 employees. PlayBrain stages esports events in Japan and serves as a full-service tournament and media company focused on large-scale productions and commercialization. The company will use the $1.9 million seed funding to scale the team, accelerate growth, and cover costs to lead the creative direction, operation, and commercialization of the League of Legends Japan League (LJL). PlayBrain has partnered with Riot Games and Yoshimoto to operate the LJL and works with major gaming brands including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Twitch, and Supercell. The firm positions itself as a multicultural, multilingual bridge connecting Japan’s competitive gaming community with the global market and aims to develop next-generation esports cultural products from Tokyo’s youth culture. The article notes market context from Newzoo that 67.6 million Japanese players were expected to spend $19.2 billion in 2018, underscoring Japan’s large games market. The company is based in Tokyo and the deal was described as the first Western investment in Japanese esports.

Total raised

$8M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jun 2020