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PlayVS' Delane Parnell stops by AfroTech to discuss the new book about his and why he initially did not want to go through with it.
Rapper Lil Baby takes his turn to give back. The 25-year-old Atlanta native recently secured his first no. 1 album with his sophomore album, “My Turn.” Amid his chart-topping success, he launched a $150,000 scholarship fund of the same name during a surprise visit to Booker T. Washington High School. Earlier this month, Lil Baby returned to his former high school to gift the education institution with a check to help high-achieving students attend college. One recipient, Vachon Raye, Jr., hopes to attend an ivy league school, reports WSB-TV Atlanta . “Him coming back here. Why would he want to come here? To give back. For him to give back, really impact for me,” Raye told WSB-TV. The program is in partnership with Amazon Music’s Rap Rotation, Quality Control Music, Wolfpack Global, and Motown Records. “A majority of the students in these neighborhoods, when they have good grades most of them don’t have support,” he told Billboard. “They don’t have a family who can afford to [send...
PlayVS, the company working to bring esports to the high school level, today announced it raised just over $30 million in a series B funding round . This comes after it amassed $15 million during a series A just six months ago. PlayVS took a different lane into the esports arena. Instead of focusing on the larger communities across the country already participating in competitive gaming, it focused on high school students–a group somewhat underserved. This investment round was led by groups like Elysian Park Ventures and Science Inc. Adidas also came on as a new investor, making it the first esports investment for the company. Samsung and Sean Combs are two other notable new investors who joined during this round. The growing esports company is also adding two new games, Rocket League and SMITE, which should make it more popular for gamers who want to be a part of the platform. The company also announced several months ago that it was teaming up with League of Legends — an immensely...
Esports are the next wave — and they’re about to be even bigger and more accessible thanks to PlayVS (which is pronounced “play versus”) receiving $15 million in Series A funding. “In the beginning, our goal wasn’t even necessarily to advocate for video games,” says Delane Parnell, Founder of PlayVS, “We looked at the current landscape and realized there was a huge gap in the market. There are millions of amateur gamers out there who want to compete. The most important demographic within this segment is high schoolers. Until now, there was no way for them to actually compete. We are going to provide that venue in a supervised, safe environment that makes them part of something larger.” PlayVS is an online portal that helps students, administrators and recruiters connect where matches are set and scheduled and statistics are tracked to help regulate high school esports. PlayVS began by partnering with the National Federation of High School Associations to build out the high school...