Fnatic has secured $19m in Series A funding and made some senior management changes.
The investment round was led by entrepreneur Lev Leviev of LVL1 Group with new and continued support from investors including UK’s Beringea, BlackPine, Unbound and Joi Ito.
A new leadership team has also been appointed, including former Mercedes AMG F1 CEO Nick Fry (Fnatic chairman), serial entrepreneur and Affectv founder Glen Calvert (COO) and Fnatic founder Sam Mathews (CEO).
Sam has retaken the CEO position previously held by Wouter Sleijffers. It’s not clear whether Wouter has left Fnatic or not – Esports News UK has asked the organisation and will update this article when we hear back.
With this new investment, Fnatic says it will enter the next phase of its global expansion, strengthen involvement in tier-one leagues, including the League of Legends European Championships, launch new product categories in its esports equipment subsidiary (including a new audio line) and scale up resources to ‘deliver and deploy marketing efforts and reach for brands on an international scale’.
“This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of Fnatic.”
Sam Mathews, Fnatic
Lead investor Lev Leviev said: “Esports is the future of entertainment as well as one of the most dynamic and exciting emerging industries out there. Fnatic has established itself as a driving force both on the competitive stage and as a global business in esports. I’m excited to be part of the next chapter as Fnatic scales into a global lifestyle brand.”
CEO Sam Mathews added: “This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of Fnatic. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 15 years and now is the time to build on this strong foundation to realise our vision of being the leading global esports brand.
“To have such high caliber investors is telling of the potential they see in Fnatic and our future.”
The latest round of investment will be used to structure the company for further expansion into Asia and North America, to continue to partner with brands and to cement Fnatic’s position as what it describes as ‘the leading lifestyle esports organisation globally’.
Fnatic was founded by Sam Mathews back in 2004. It’s headquartered in Shoreditch, London, and has other operational locations in Berlin, Belgrade, Los Angeles, Taipei, Shenzhen and Kuala Lumpur.
