Westmoreland native continues growing gamer-coaching company Metafy

Over the past three years, Derry native Josh Fabian has turned his gamer-coaching company, Metafy, into a major player in the gaming industry, raising $25 million in venture capital from international hedge funds such as Tiger Global and Seven Seven Six.

As the company has continued to scale up — bringing in about $200,000 a month in late 2021, Fabian said — it has acquired other gamer-coaching platforms including U.K.-based GamersRdy.

This week, Fabian announced the acquisition of Copenhagen-based GamerzClass, which he said has a mission similar to Metafy’s: to help players improve through master class courses from the world’s top-ranked players.

By offering the classes, Fabian, 33, of Blairsville said Metafy is able to help less-experienced players step up their game, while also giving top-ranked gamers a chance to make a living teaching what they love.

He said bringing GamerzClass into the fold made perfect sense.

“I have an immense respect for (GamerzClass CEO) Victor Folmann and his team,” Fabian said. “They’re an unfair advantage for us. What they’ve accomplished in terms of both execution and innovation on course content is inspiring.”

GamerzClass launched in 2019 and grew to more than 500,000 users before pivoting to a fully remote production business model. Today, the company has more than 6,000 users who pay a monthly subscription for premium content.

Folmann will take on the role of Metafy’s courses general manager, responsible for building and growing the company’s master classes for gamers.

“Metafy is best-in-class when it comes to coaching,” Fabian said. “We’ll be able to say the same for self-driven learning by bringing GamerzClass talent into the fold.”

Folmann said he had entertained several similar offers before Fabian and Metafy came along.

“To be honest, it never really felt right to continue those conversations until I met Josh back in December,” he said. “GamerzClass and Metafy unifying will allow me and my team to continue loving what we do, but with increased ambitions and firepower.”

Fabian said moving forward in partnership can help transform both businesses.

“We’ll offer something for everyone, regardless of their skill level,” he said.

The Entertainment Software Association estimates there are more than 226 million people in the U.S. who consider themselves regular gamers. That figure is up from 164 million in the association’s 2019 report.