PlayVS bringing esports to Canadian high schools through GameSeta acquisition

by Mitch Reames

PlayVS, one of the leading amateur esports competition platforms, announced the acquisition of GameSeta, a Canada-based startup building esports infrastructure for high schools, today.

Founded in 2018, PlayVS has been focused primarily on the high school esports market. With this GameSeta acquisition, PlayVS is expanding the company’s reach in Canada by bringing on GameSeta founders Tawanda Masawi and Rana Taj to lead Canadian operations at PlayVS.

“We are delighted to welcome GameSeta to the PlayVS family, as our missions and strategies align perfectly,” said Delane Parnell, founder and CEO of PlayVS.“This acquisition will allow PlayVS to help further its mission of providing the best competitive community for gaming, especially as it relates to expanding our international footprint thanks to the foundation set by GameSeta.”

A large part of what PlayVS offers is education and resources for high schools that don’t have gaming infrastructure in place. PlayVS coaches also have access to a team of agents and a coaching academy to help them improve skills, leadership and communication with their team.

“After several conversations with the PlayVS leadership team, it became clear that we had a close alignment on the long term vision for amateur esports,” said Taj, GameSeta president and cofounder. “As with GameSeta, PlayVS is laser-focused on the amateur esports industry and provides the technological infrastructure to support esports at the high school level. This alignment, along with PlayVS’ market leadership and powerhouse team represents a great opportunity.”

While high schools are PlayVS’ main focus, the company has also been expanding its presence in the college market. College is a much more crowded space than high school when it comes to competitive esports platforms with Collegiate StarLeague, the Electronic Gaming Federation and the National Association of College Esports all running events. That doesn’t even include all the developer-run college esports events. PlayVS has carved out plenty of market share — primarily in high schools — fueled by three funding rounds that have brought the company over $100 million in total.

“Three years ago Mr. Parnell and his team spearheaded the amateur esports revolution in the US, and we’re proud to now be a part of that journey here in Canada,” said Masawi, GameSeta CEO and Cofounder. “As the world has transitioned to a digital-first landscape, gaming has become a lifeline engaging Canadian students with their schools and peers in a constructive way.”

With this deal, PlayVS will also become a partner of BC School Sports (BCSS), the governing body of school sports in British Columbia. BCSS was already a partner of GameSeta and is in the midst of a trial season to make esports an official school sport in British Columbia.

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