Binary Capital Leads Unikrn Series A

I’m humbled and very excited to announce that Unikrn just completed its Series A. Check out this mad press release for all the details!

How we got here...

In November when I left Microsoft Ventures, all I could think about was going back into the world of entrepreneurship. I didn't think twice about the stock I left on the table or the massive pay decrease. Instead, I was laser focused on going back to my roots of gaming and joining my friend Karl Flores to create the best eSports company in the world.

Shortly after we started in November, we raised nearly $3,000,000 in our seed round from an international team of investors, many of whom have been actively involved in helping us build our business. We began a partnership with Tabcorp, one of the largest publicly traded international betting companies in the world, we built an MVP of Unikrn Arena, and we announced the acquisition of two companies.

Along the way, we hired some quirky, interesting and amazing people. We actually started our interview process by playing League of Legends with people we thought were potential candidates. Karl and I spent day and night playing with people referred by friends of friends, and we discovered some amazing talent. Believe it or not, playing games is an amazing way to quickly learn what type of person someone is. You can seriously measure one’s leadership skills, kindness, empathy, humility, intelligence, and their ability to work under pressure. What’s funny is they didn’t even know we were interviewing them!

So, in a few short months, we created a strong foundation starting with an everlasting culture, a brand that is catching on in the space and a growing community of gamers and fans. We also brought back some of the Voodoo history by creating partnerships with HP, Razer and Logitech, with more to come.

According to ESPN, 27 million people tuned in to watch the 2014 finals of the League of Legends World Championship - that’s more than watched the final game of the World Series (23.5 million) or the NBA Finals (18 million). The global audience on Twitch saw 16 billion minutes of live gaming streams watched per month last year on average, with the number growing rapidly month over month.

Our mission at Unikrn is to heighten the viewership experience and increase engagement surrounding eSports. We want to bring more mainstream fans to the space; we want to help create legends. We play games, we love sports, and we really love eSports.

And now, we are announcing that Unikrn has raised an additional $7,000,000 for a total of $10,000,000 to continue on our mission. We are in the fortunate position of having some of the best investors contacting us on a regular basis, giving us the luxury of choosing the right investors who we knew would help us build and grow our company.

We made the decision to bring on Binary Capital as our lead. Anyone who knows anything about VCs knows Jonathan Teo and Justin Caldbeck - they are such good people, and they have helped launch some gigantic companies (Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, to name a few). We also have the backing of Mark Cuban, Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital, Elisabeth Murdoch’s very exclusive Freelands Group, 500 Startups, Tabcorp, Indicator Ventures and a few others. We’re humbled to be in the position we’re in.

Yeah, when I look back at the day I resigned from Microsoft, I’d say it was the craziest decision I ever made… and the best decision I ever made. We’re having so much fun; it’s a dream come true. This Fourth of July, I’ll be celebrating entrepreneurship with my wife and kids, after which the real work begins. Look forward to the all new Unikrn Arena coming in July, and don’t forget we are hiring!

Don't forget to check my personal blog at www.rahulsood.com