In February, video game coaching platform Metafy Inc. announced it had closed on a $25 million Series A funding round, the region’s fourth-largest raise over the past year. The startup has raised $35 million since its founding in 2020. It employs 60 workers globally following an acquisition in May of GamerzClass, a Denmark-based video game instructional course offering platform. Users of Metafy’s platform can book private, one-on-one video game coaching sessions from coaches who offer the latest skills and insights on popular video games and physical board games. Coaches on the platform create their own schedules and set their own compensation rates. Metafy doesn’t charge the coaches to use the platform; instead, it places a 5% fee for students to pay upon reserving a session.
What does it feel like to raise the amount of funding your company has raised thus far?
Two years ago, we raised $100,000. I felt a number of things, … but more than anything else, I felt a pressure to perform. … That feeling hasn’t grown or diminished in the $35 million since that first check. You get used to the money, scale to it and then raise more. The first round is the hardest; after that, it’s just another part of the game.
How will this funding further grow the company?
We’re spending about a million a month all in, most of that being on salaries. The money gives us essential time needed to deliver the next piece of the greater ecosystem we’re building. At that point, I’ll either look brilliant or entirely out of my mind. If it’s the former, we’ll raise another round.
What role, if any, does Pittsburgh play in your company’s efforts to secure funding?
None at all. Pittsburgh investors, for the most part, are old school, stuffy and uptight. More banker than entrepreneur. They’re operating the way it used to be. Tech is becoming increasingly remote and so too is fundraising. I can raise from a fund in San Francisco without ever having to put pants on. I’ve done it. Twice. We have great investors in Pittsburgh like Will Allen and Ilana Diamond, but we need more leaders to act as a catalyst for change.
— Josh Fabian, co-founder and CEO
