Super League Gaming, an esports community-building platform, announced today that it has received $15 million in Series C funding.

Key investors include children’s TV channel Nickelodeon (a subsidiary of Viacom), DMG Entertainment, Toba Capital and Japanese telekom company SoftBank. There were also several backers from within the traditional sports world, including NHL Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik, and aXiomatic; an esports ownership group lead by American sports team owners Peter Gruber and Ted Leonsis.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Super League Gaming plans to extend its events to sixteen U.S. cities by the end of the year, and expand internationally.[/perfectpullquote]

With the new capital, Super League Gaming plans to extend its amateur League of Legends and Minecraft events, popularly hosted in cinema spaces, to sixteen U.S. cities by the end of the year. SLG is also in preliminary talks to expand the concept internationally, beginning with China and Europe.

Super League Gaming CEO Ann Hand told The Esports Observer:

“What you’ll be seeing over the coming months is really showing off all the different ways the very fragmented local gaming communities in each of these markets can use the SLG platform to enable their own kind of offers. So, whether that’s interscholastic opportunities around high school and university, or partnering with LAN centers, that’s kind of the beauty of the technology we’ve built.”

SLG launched in 2014, and to date has raised more than $28 million, with earlier investors including Cinemark USA, Inc., ET Capital and Quadrant Management. The platform drives revenue much akin to a traditional sports model, with online and live-event ticket sales, advertising and sponsorship. All the city brands are owned and operated by SLG, opening up the possibility for branded-apparel and gear for each franchise. The events themselves also provide a significant source for content creation. “Every time I walk out of an event, I’m holding on to five news stories, but I know there’s fifteen that I left behind,” says Anne.

With programming targeted largely towards 8-14 year olds, Nickelodeon is a natural fit for that content, and marks a major step to bringing esports to a considerably younger demographic. “We certainly expect that there will be great opportunities for our content to live on their digital channels,” said Anne. “Certainly, one piece we’ve planned to explore with them is even a potential integration at the linear TV level.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]SLG launched in 2014, and drives revenue much akin to a traditional sports model, with online and live-event ticket sales, advertising and sponsorship.[/perfectpullquote]

Anne added that the channel was particularly receptive to the level of diversity found at SLG events. “A really good balance of young girls to boys, and a lot of ethnic diversity as well that they felt was a direct match with the Nickelodeon audience.” Nickelodeon had previously sponsored several SLG Minecraft events. According to Anne, the brand is committed to esports, and its investment is a strategic entryway for its parent company, Viacom.

Another major backer, Jeff Vinik, added his financial support to SLG prior to his investment in aXiomatic, who own a majority stake in Team Liquid. Several of the traditional sports team entrepreneurs who’ve invested in SLG don’t have major stakes in any other esports teams or platforms yet. “They love that it’s the place for the 99 percent of all gamers,” said Anne. “I feel for them it allows a way to get more acquainted with this local millennial audience that are not gaining as much access as the traditional sports team that they own.”

DMG Entertainment, who publicly announced their investment earlier this week, are known as a financier and co-producer of films for the Chinese market. Under its new esports subsidiary, DMG plans to bring the platform to Beijing and Shanghai this year, and will help SLG achieve its key goal of developing a global amateur esports league.

SLG originally launched with Minecraft-focused events, but a partnership with Riot Games helped extend the platform to older, less casual audiences. With its second annual “City Champs” League of Legends competition taking place in July, the company also plans to test out new games in the fall. “Certainly I wouldn’t want to speak out of turn with any of our game publisher conversations, but we are actively looking at different mobile games,” said Anne. “It’s the hot, large-community engagement ones you’d expect.”