Silicon Beach Report Nov. 21: $30 Million for PlayVS

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New president at Conde Nast Entertainment; SpaceX secures $250 million; LA Dodgers lead PlayVS Series B round.

Dodgers’ Venture Outfit Leads PlayVS Series B

Santa Monica-based high-school e-sports league operator PlayVS raised $30 million in a Series B round on Nov. 19. This comes just six months after PlayVS raised $15 million in its Series A. The round was led by Elysian Park Ventures, the investment arm of the LA Dodgers and featured participation from Adidas and Samsung NEXT. PlayVS Chief Executive Delane Parnell told TechCrunch the company also added two new games to its growing suite of e-sports, and said the funding will provide PlayVS with stability to grow and hire new executives.

B of A Provides $250 Million Loan to SpaceX

After initially requesting $500 million in October, Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. cut down its expectations and accepted a $250 million debt financing loan from Bank of America Corp. The Wall Street Journal reports the funds, issued Nov. 20, will be used to bankroll upcoming (and costly) SpaceX launch projects. SpaceX is currently valued at an estimated $27 billion.

Conde Nast Entertainment Hires Former Tastemade Program Lead

Oren Katzeff, formerly head of programming at Santa Monica-based, food-focused video outlet Tastemade Inc., will exit to become president of media conglomerate Conde Nast Entertainment Inc. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Katzeff replaces former president Dawn Ostroff, who left the company in July to lead content development at Spotify. Ostoff founded Conde Nast Entertainment in 2011 to make videos from the trove of intellectual property gathered by its parent company, Conde Nast Inc.

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