Grilla, a platform for skill-based games, announced it has launched out of beta with 20,000 registered users and $3 million in funding from Tusk Venture Partners. Grilla is an all-in-one platform where eligible users can easily create, manage and compete in any type of tournaments. With a built-in wallet and proprietary real-money gaming features, Grilla unlocks consumers’ ability to wager in any type of video game or skill-based competition such as golf, backgammon, bowling, chess, basketball or anything else.
Today, when a community of non-professional skill-based gamers wants to organize a tournament, they face challenges due to a dispersed player base, a lack of tournament organizing infrastructure, and a limited understanding of the regulatory landscape. Grilla’s platform provides players with the tools to create tournaments and increase prize pools for players through features like pvp matches, crowdsourced prize pools and the ability for fans to contribute players’ entry fees. Grilla is launching with video games like Call of Duty, Madden, Street Fighter and NBA2K, and hundreds of other game titles and has built the infrastructure to support various tournament formats and game genres.
In beta alone, users have hosted over 1,000 tournaments on the platform, and due to the demand from video games alone, Grilla is launching additional features this Spring for skill-based games played in-person. With the new round of funding, the platform will replace archaic forms of tracking games such as spreadsheets, white boards, cash boxes, and provides players with a digital solution to keep score and a digital wallet for prize payouts at the end of the competition. By offering these features, players can wager real money with their friends or other players in the community in various different game formats.
Also Read: Must-Have Features of Enterprise Application Software (EAS) 2023
“As someone who has always enjoyed competing against friends playing video games, shooting pool or playing a round of golf, it never made sense to me that there was no place to organize competitions and facilitate transactions. Grilla was founded on the principle that you don’t have to be a pro to compete like one,” said Evan Kaylin, CEO and Founder of Grilla. “We want to make it easy for anyone to organize competitions for their communities while enhancing the experience for players with real-money features. Whether you challenge your opponent to a cash match in a video game competition, create a side pool in your golf tournament or simply collect entry fees and pay out prize pools for any skill-based games of your choosing, Grilla will have you covered.”
“The skill-based game industry is massive and encapsulates everything from golfing to drone racing to traditional video and mobile games, but there hasn’t been a platform that allows non-professionals to monetize their skills, said Bradley Tusk, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Tusk Venture Partners. “Grilla is the first company to build the critical infrastructure needed to host tournaments in real life and through video games.”
Grilla is backed by Tusk Venture Partners, leveraging the team’s expertise and experience in daily fantasy sports and navigating the regulatory landscape. Anyone in the world can organize and compete in a cashless tournament on Grilla’s platform. For tournaments in which money is transacted, players must be 18+ and located in a U.S. State with laws that permit skill-based competitions. Popular games on the platform include Call of Duty, NBA2K, Madden, Street Fighter and Street Fighter. Grilla will expand into additional markets and launch different tournaments for mobile games, tabletop games, VR/AR Games, and IRL games.
