# Marc Merrill

> Marc Merrill is a seed investor in Los Angeles backing Gaming and Video Games. See 10 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: Los Angeles, United States
- Total investments: 10
- Last investment: Mar 2022
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-merrill-98b5904
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/marcmerrill
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcMerrill

Marc Merrill is a seed investor in Los Angeles focused on Gaming and Video Games. Marc Merrill Co-founded of Riot Games, Inc. in 2006 and serves as its President. Marc Merrill served as Chief Marketing Officer of Riot Games, Inc. He was corporate marketing executive in the exciting world of Business-to-Business media at Advanstar Communications. He has marketing, leadership, and elite gaming skills including Schedule Mastery +9.He held roles in finance with Merrill Lynch and US Bancorp.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.2M–$15M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Gaming | 3 | 30% |
| Video Games | 3 | 30% |
| Media and Entertainment | 3 | 30% |
| Virtual Reality | 2 | 20% |
| Augmented Reality | 2 | 20% |

36 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 6 | 60% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 2 | 20% |
| Series A | 1 | 10% |
| Series B | 1 | 10% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 6 | 60% |
| Israel | 1 | 10% |
| Norway | 1 | 10% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 10% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Anzu.io | Anzu is the most advanced intrinsic in-game ad solution for mobile, PC, console, and the metaverse. Anzu’s in-game ads put players first and help advertisers reach audiences programmatically in a non-disruptive and highly engaging way. A patented 3D ad tracking engine, the first to bring viewability measurement in-game with Oracle Moat and IAS,partnerships with trusted AdTech vendors, and compliant with the industry measurement standards outlined by the MRC and IAB make Anzu the preferred in-game advertising partner for brands and agencies worldwide.Anzu helps game developers monetize their titles with ad placements that complement the gameplay, and by monetizing the entire game session, they benefit from consistent and reliable revenue streams. Supporting all major and custom built game engines, and a full-stack ad monetization solution that provides complete control over ad placements makes Anzu the preferred in-game ad monetization partner for developers worldwide.Backed by Sony Innovation Fund, NBCUniversal, Samsung Next, Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, WPP, PayPal Ventures and many other prominent investors, Anzu is on a mission to make advertising in games better. Better for brands, better for game developers, and better for gamers. Learn more at https://www.anzu.io/ | $20M | Series B | Mar 30, 2022 |  |
| Fast Break Labs | Building the future of sports gaming and entertainment | $6M | Seed | Feb 23, 2022 |  |
| OpenBCI | OpenBCI is a low-cost, programmable, open-source EEG platform that gives anybody with computer access to their brain waves. Their vision is to realize the potential of the open-source movement to accelerate innovation in brain science through collaborative hardware and software development. Behind the many lines of code and circuit diagrams,OpenBCI has a growing community of scientists, engineers, designers, makers, and a whole bunch of other people who are interested in furthering our understanding of the brain. We feel that the biggest challenges in understanding what makes us who we are cannot be solved by a company, an institution, or even an entire field of science. Rather, we believe these discoveries will be made through an open forum of shared knowledge and concerted effort by people from many different disciplines. Today, the leading brain-computer interface (BCI) companies distribute fixed devices with limited or closed access to the algorithms that translate raw EEG signals to meaningful data. These devices are powerful and effective for application development but not ideal for R&D requiring adjustable hardware setups and direct control over the signal processing techniques. OpenBCI is fully accessible and powered by an open-source community of hardware and software builders, making it easy for creators of any skill level and ideal for researchers who haven’t yet settled on the perfect system design. The OpenBCI platform is intended to serve as a malleable starting point in the rapidly growing field of brain-computer interfacing. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Dec 15, 2021 |  |
| Emerge | Emerge is a consumer technology company building a multi-sensory communication platform to bridge distance and time—through touch, sight, sound, and brain activity, powered by emotion AI, to allow users to digitize and transmit their emotions. With over 2 billion people worldwide feeling disconnected from others—one of the greatest life hazards ofour generation—it's time for a new communication platform that focuses on what really matters: our emotional connection with others.The first step is to introduce touch to virtual interactions—via TVs, AR, and VR displays. Emerge Wave-series is the anchor product line for the emotion AI. The patented consumer device emits precise ultrasonic forcefields that can be physically felt with bare hands—imagine a “virtual high five” or holding hands across the globe, with no gloves or controllers needed.We are proud of our impact-focused and diverse team—70% of us are immigrants and first-generation Americans. We are former entrepreneurs and industry veterans who have developed and launched products in the fields of consumer electronics, augmented reality, brain-computer interfaces, gaming, and space exploration.Founded in 2015 and based in Los Angeles, CA, Emerge is backed by venture capital firms including M13 and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital, and other notable investors such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and co-founders of Blizzard Entertainment, Twitch, and Riot Games. | $13.7M | Venture - Series Unknown | Nov 11, 2021 |  |
| Pipeline | Becoming a content creator is what most kids around the world aspire to do. In the early days, this was seen as a hobby. Today, it's a viable career that millions are pursuing. We aspire to support the next generation of content creators build careers they are passionate about. Our team is comprised of seasoned creators and those who have beenin the industry for a decade. We're tackling this by building an online school for content creators and are backed by some of the biggest creators in the industry. | $2M | Seed | Jul 16, 2021 |  |
| PortalOne | PortalOne is a pioneering startup in the videogames industry, taking the best parts of games and the best parts of TV and merging them together to create an immersive entertainment experience unlike anything that's been seen before. PortalOne's business model is centered around the concept of 'hybrid games', a novel categorythat combines elements of traditional gaming with interactive TV shows.Currently accessible only via mobile devices, the company hosts daily 24-hour tournaments every day where players can compete in a variety of games across different genres, including Atari games, for which the company has the exclusive global distribution rights for many of its titles like 'Pong', 'Breakout' and 'Centipede'. These games are not just standalone experiences, but are integrated with TV shows broadcasted within the games themselves. Players play throughout the day with the goal of climbing the Leaderboards for each game, with the opportunity to win real prizes such as cash and holidays.PortalOne's first show format, the 'Arcade Show' -- the TV component of hybrid games -- is hosted every single day in the PortalOne app. The show sees special guests come into the PortalOne universe and become immersed inside the game worlds as real characters. They play a round of a PortalOne game, and then players play against them on their mobile device at home. Previous guests on the Arcade Show include Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Tori Kelly, and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. The company has been operational since 2018 and has been steadfast in its mission to merge the best aspects of the gaming and TV industries. PortalOne's vision is to be the ultimate destination for hybrid games, in the same way that Spotify is for music and podcasts, and Netflix is for TV and film. PortalOne will host hundreds of games across all genres on its platform, with multiple show formats in its universe. The company also intends to become cross-platform. Currently operating in the US & Canada and Norway, PortalOne aims to be available worldwide with studios around the world producing localized TV shows for different geographies. | $15M | Seed | Apr 29, 2021 |  |
| Anzu.io | Anzu is the most advanced intrinsic in-game ad solution for mobile, PC, console, and the metaverse. Anzu’s in-game ads put players first and help advertisers reach audiences programmatically in a non-disruptive and highly engaging way. A patented 3D ad tracking engine, the first to bring viewability measurement in-game with Oracle Moat and IAS,partnerships with trusted AdTech vendors, and compliant with the industry measurement standards outlined by the MRC and IAB make Anzu the preferred in-game advertising partner for brands and agencies worldwide.Anzu helps game developers monetize their titles with ad placements that complement the gameplay, and by monetizing the entire game session, they benefit from consistent and reliable revenue streams. Supporting all major and custom built game engines, and a full-stack ad monetization solution that provides complete control over ad placements makes Anzu the preferred in-game ad monetization partner for developers worldwide.Backed by Sony Innovation Fund, NBCUniversal, Samsung Next, Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, WPP, PayPal Ventures and many other prominent investors, Anzu is on a mission to make advertising in games better. Better for brands, better for game developers, and better for gamers. Learn more at https://www.anzu.io/ | $9M | Series A | Feb 02, 2021 |  |
| Cloud Paper | Cloud Paper is a tree-free paper manufacturer that makes paper products made with 100% bamboo. The company's paper products are made with sustainable, super-soft, bamboo. With no trees harmed along the way. The company aims to end the deforestation cycle caused by the traditional paper industry. It also uses plastic-free packaging.It wasfounded in 2019 and is based in Seattle, Washington. | $3M | Seed | Sep 22, 2020 |  |
| Rally Cry | Rally Cry is an early-stage gaming technology startup located in Southern California. We’re creating an organized way for people of all ages and skill levels to connect, play, and compete with each other. We are engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and lifelong gamers who believe that gaming is a force for good. | $1.2M | Seed | Mar 26, 2020 |  |
| OZ, US | A leading tech company energizing live events and bringing communities together through out of this world experiences. |  | Seed | Oct 01, 2018 |  |

10 of 10 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [BITKRAFT Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bitkraft-ventures) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [NaHCO3](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nahco3) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [TQ Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tq-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Goal Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/goal-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [HBSE Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hbse-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Marc Merrill invest in?

Marc Merrill invests primarily in Gaming, Video Games and Media and Entertainment startups, most often at Seed and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 10 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Marc Merrill's check size?

Marc Merrill typically joins rounds of $1.2M–$15M at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Marc Merrill participates in.

### When did Marc Merrill last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Marc Merrill closed in Mar 2022. Shizune tracks 10 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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