N3rd St. Gamers raises $2.57M toward its Series A

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, NoLibs-based esports tournament organizer N3rd Street Gamers has raised $2.57 million in funding.

James Love, communications director for the N3rd Street company cofounded by John Fazio and Rob Hilsky, confirmed the raise via email on Thursday.

“After a banner year for us and the proven data points we were looking for, we’re continuing to accelerate our growth at a national scale,” Love said. “The [$2.57 million] is a convertible note provided by our existing investors as commitment to our growth and initial contribution towards our Series A raise.”

(For context, convertible notes are a common vehicle for funding in the startup realm. It’s basically a loan that converts to equity in a company in conjunction with an upcoming financing round.)

Investors in this round, Love confirmed, include SeventySix Capital — which in 2017 invested an undisclosed amount in the company — and Comcast Spectacor, which pumped an initially-undisclosed amount in the company (an SEC filing later showed that number was $1.3 million) in June of 2018.

The realLIST 2019 company, which works to develop a pipeline of top-flight esports talent, opened an 18,000-square-foot gaming hub in Lakewood, Colo. last year. This year it kicked off a string of events called the National Championship Series, which will reach 10 cities through 2019.