Startups Investment Recap – August 20

Vindex will invest more than $300 million into building Esports centers

New York-based Vindex will invest more than $300 million into building Esports centers for amateur and casual players in the U.S. and other countries. Vindex’s other business, Esports Engine, will provide operations services for the arenas, which are like PC gaming centers with an esports focus. Vindex has set up partnerships with a couple of team owners to open multiple locations in their territories. Vindex is an esports investment holding company founded by the people who started the Esports tournament company Major League Gaming.

Veloce has secured £4m in private investment

Veloce has secured £4m in private investment to merge and expand its Veloce Esports gaming operation and its motorsport division, which includes Extreme E team Veloce Racing. The new funding included participation from Darryl Eales, Veloce Racing chairman, and from former Marussia Formula 1 executives. Veloce Esports has come to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, organizing a series of well-publicized esports events to fill the void while traditional sports events have been off-air.

ESE Entertainment Inc. secured £1.3 million in investment

Esports organization ESE Entertainment Inc. secured £1.3 million in investment alongside its public listing. The company’s shares are set to begin trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “ESE”. ESE Entertainment provides digital and physical infrastructure, broadcasting, and global distribution for gaming and Esports-related content. It operates across the gaming and media production value chain and generates revenue from media rights, sponsorships and advertising, events and merchandise, and competition earnings.

Tencent is attempting an Esports merger worth $10B  

Tencent – whose gaming arm includes titles like Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, and League of Legends – wants to fill the game-streaming void left by Twitch in China, and is proposing a deal to merge local live-stream rivals DouYu and Huya to create a Chinese gaming leader with a market worth of more than US$10 billion. Tencent has offered to buy 30 million shares of Huya from part-owner Joyy – itself a live-streaming service operator – for US$810 million. Already owning more than a third of each of the companies, Tencent will seek full control of the combined entity, which would see the WeChat operator take hold of the country’s US$3.4 billion live-streamed gaming market.

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