Fnatic is a high-performance esports brand headquartered in London. Now, the company has picked up $17 million (nearly £12 million) funding led by one of the largest conglomerates in Japan, Marubeni Corporation (“Marubeni”).
Eyes to drive global growth
The investment round includes a range of international family offices and institutional investors alongside venture debt from Bootstrap. This follows the investment it raised in 2020 in a crowdfunding round joined by over 3,500 investors.
The fund will accelerate Fnatic’s growth in the substantial Asia-Pacific market with a new strategic partnership that will incorporate the expansion of Fnatic’s base of operations in Japan and support Fnatic’s Rainbow 6 Siege team to relocate to the country.
Fnatic CEO Sam Mathews said: “We’re so excited to have the strategic know-how of Marubeni leading this funding round. Marubeni’s knowledge of Japan’s business landscape will be a huge asset to Fnatic as we expand our commitment to APAC.”
Growth in revenue!
The investment came after Fnatic witnessed twelve months of growth, including an 80% year-on-year increase in revenues year-to-date and expansion as a high-performance esports brand. Fnatic will now strengthen its position in the rapidly growing esports market anticipated to generate $1.08 billion revenues in 2021.
The previous twelve months have also accelerated the growth of the global esports industry, particularly in cornerstone markets such as China and East Asia.
To grow globally, Fnatic recently strengthened its leadership team by hiring Georgina Workman (Head of Studios, Previously Appear Here), Julien Dupont (Partnership development, previously Vitality/Havas), Oliver Royce (Head of Apparel, Previously Gymshark) and Patrick Foster (CFO, previously Getaround).
Also, the company, founded in 2004 by Sam Mathews, continued to develop its high-performance esports brand by expanding its digital and physical performance products – revenues from these ranges have increased by 91 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021.
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