Some of the biggest influencers and investors in esports just paired up to create a multi-million esports investment fund. ESL founder and esports veteran Jens Hilgers is leading a team of high-profile individuals and investment groups from various industries such as sports, entertainment, and gaming to pour money into early stage esports companies. <\/p>
The BITKRAFT Esports Ventures fund\u2019s partners include Kristian Segerstrale, CEO at Super Evil Megacorp, maker of Vainglory; esports ownership group aXiomatic, headed by Ted Leonsis and Peter Guber, which holds a controlling share in Team Liquid; Modern Times Group\u2019s esports investment arm MTGx, which acquired ESL and DreamHack, and a range of other prominent investors and entrepreneurs. <\/p>
\u201cThis fund is the culmination of building and scaling esports and creating outstanding services and products that increase enjoyment for both players and fans,\u201d said Hilgers. \u201cThis fund is also about living my passion and creating a platform to support those who share this dream and have the drive to create intrinsic value in esports. Everyone involved in BITKRAFT has had outstanding entrepreneurial success in esports or closely related industries.\u201d<\/p>
Investing since March 2016, BITKRAFT\u2019s portfolio consists of 10 esports companies to date, including training platform DOJO Madness\u2014which Hilgers also heads as CEO\u2014 business news portal The Esports Observer, and Level99, the agency behind the rebrands of H2K and G2 Esports, and co-founders of the OG Dota 2<\/em> team. BITKRAFT also invested in Boom.tv, a 3D livestreaming platform founded by Sumit Gupta, who is one of the fund\u2019s partners.<\/p>
BITKRAFT has raised \u20ac18 million ($19.6m) in its first closing, targeting a final close of \u20ac30 million ($32.69m). The fund is set to invest between \u20ac100,000 ($108,950) and \u20ac400,000 ($435,820) in each startup.<\/p>
\u201cWith its seasoned investment team who bring a mix of expertise across technology, media, and games, as well as deepest possible esports experience, BITKRAFT is incredibly well positioned as an accelerator and fund to support this rapidly emerging ecosystem,\u201d commented Super Evil Megacorp CEO Segerstrale.<\/p>
In fact, BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, by its own account, is the world\u2019s first esports specific fund. It not only brings together investors like the aXiomatic group, which are already engaged in esports, but also non-endemics like Fabrice Grinda, which has seen over $300 million in exits, or Rick Thompson, one of the most prominent investors in the gaming industry.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BITKRAFT Esports Ventures pairs up with some big-name investors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":911,"featured_media":61907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gamurs_wordpress_blocks_hide_tags":true,"_is_affiliated":false,"dotesports_deal_href":"","dotesports_featured_video":"","_notify_users":1,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[81],"invoiceable_action":[],"internal-label":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":911,"display_name":"Thiemo Br\u00e4utigam","user_login":"thiemobrautigam","user_nicename":"thiemo-brautigam"}],"class_list":["post-15809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
