Skillz raises $6M for its cash-wagering e-sports platform on mobile

You don’t have to live the life of a pro gamer to make money with your gaming abilities.

Mobile-tech startup Skillz has raised $6 million to expand its real-money wagering platform. The company enables players to enter tournaments for a fee with the winner taking the biggest portion of the prize pool. Competitive gaming is a growing business, as it provides an alternative to relaying on in-game transactions and ads, and Skills is providing a way for everyday gamers to participate right from their smartphones or tablets. Capital firm Atlas Venture led the funding round.

Skillz faces competition from companies like Cashplay, which just raised $3 million.

“As e-sports continue their meteoric rise in popularity, Skillz is delivering a competition system to the industry on the world’s most accessible platform: mobile,” Skills chief executive Andrew Paradise said. “This latest round of funding brings our industry one step closer to the inevitable future of a tournament system in every mobile game. We’re ushering in a new era in competitive gaming.”

Skillz will use the cash to fund a program that will help games using the company’s mobile tournaments to acquire players.

“E-sports are quickly becoming big business,” Atlas Venture partner Jeff Fagnan said. “What’s most exciting about Skillz is that they are completely transforming the industry by making competitions available on mobile, tapping into an enormous, previously untouched market.”