eSports Hero (ESH), a leading eSports company headquartered in New York City today announced $1M in financing from eSports Mogul – an Australian based eSports  investment Company to further expand its compliant, skill-based online tournament platform. The platform offers gamers of all ability levels the opportunity to put their talents to the test and play for real cash and prizes in head-to-head matchups.  Viewers can watch ESH tournaments globally 24×7 and get involved by crowdfunding prize pools in support of their favorite players.

The company also announced today the expansion of its leadership team with Andrew Schneider, a pioneer in digital entertainment and former Live Gamer, Sony Pictures Digital and NBC executive who joins ESH as co-founder, director and CXO.  eSports Hero was founded in 2015 by avid gamers James Heldridge (CEO), Chris Gonsalves (CFO) and David Krbec (CTO). eSports Hero has hosted thousands of tournaments since September 2015 for many popular eSports titles. Schneider joins Gernot Abl of eSports Mogul on the Board.

“ESH is capturing the enthusiasm around competitive gaming by offering players of all skill levels an outlet to show off their abilities to the millions of eSports fans around the world,” said James Heldridge co-Founder and CEO of eSports Hero, “ESH has become a place for up-and-coming players who want to be recognized and a favorite destination for professional players such as Jab, Phonetap and KitKatz who are looking to expand their tournament play.”

According to SuperData Research, the global viewership market for eSports has reached over 188 million with a market value of $748M and heading to $2B by 2018. “We see over a third of eSports fans also competing in an average of four tournaments every six months, and online platforms offer an easy way to participate without having to compete in person,” said Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research.”

“This investment round and the addition of Andrew to the team will help accelerate our mission in several ways,” said Chris Gonsalves, CFO eSports Hero, “Andrew’s deep industry experience and monetization expertise will assist us greatly to add compelling new features to the platform, expand our partnership capabilities and grow the ESH player base.”

Schneider co-founded Live Gamer in 2007 helping to usher in the era of free-to-play games in the United States by providing a rich set of micro-transaction tools, global payment methods and virtual economy management expertise. While at Sony Pictures Digital, he pioneered studio efforts around original broadband programming and user-generated content creation services. Schneider started his career at NBC Television Network where he helped bring the network online for the first time.

“eSports is the most exciting thing to happen to games, entertainment and media,” said Andrew Schneider, CXO of eSports Hero, “the ESH team are core gamers and have a real passion for the sport. Together we are well positioned to create the most compelling and authentic experience for players worldwide.”