Mentioned in this article
- PatronGG raised a $1M USD Seed Financing Round led by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures. Trust Esport, a French esports technology fund, participated in the round.
- Proceeds of the investment will be used to build out PatronGG’s engagement platform, Kokyo.gg, by expanding into new games, broadening match data, growing the team, and securing team partnerships.
- In 2017, PatronGG first received a Seed investment led by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures to become part of the BITKRAFT Seed Fund.
Today, esports fan engagement application developer PatronGG announced that it raised a $1M Seed investment led by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures. Furthermore, French esports technology fund Trust Esport participated in the investment round. According to the German business registrar, the investment was made on Nov. 21.
According to PatronGG CEO Dean Burrows, the company will use the investment’s proceeds to build out its fan engagement platform, Kokyo.gg, by expanding into new games such as Dota 2 and Rainbow Six: Siege, broadening match data, growing its team, and securing team partnerships.
Kokyo.gg is a fan engagement platform featuring team timelines aggregating esports teams’ social channels, news, and video content from across the web as well as team’s match calendars and discussion boards. Through Kokyo, teams are able to monetize fans directly by offering exclusive content and experiences for supporters using different subscription tiers.
“Kokyo is a must-have app where esports fans have an easy way to stay up-to-date and support their favorite team across multiple game titles and esports organizations have avenues to maximize fan engagement and create new opportunities for monetization,” said Jens Hilgers, BITKRAFT founder and managing partner, in a release. “We believe Kokyo will change the way fans follow and engage with their favorite esports teams and the larger esports community while providing esports organizations with ways to diversify revenue.”
PatronGG was founded as subGG in 2016 and became part of the BITKRAFT Seed Fund on May 5, 2017, by raising a five-figure Seed round led by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures. In 2018, the company launched its first product, the Fnatic Nation fan engagement app, in collaboration with the esports organization Fnatic.
In October, Rogue and London Royal Ravens parent company ReKTGlobal acquired Fullcube, a competitor to Kokyo in the market of fan engagement platforms. Fullcube created Rogue Nation, a fan membership program for Rogue, and is, like Kokyo, currently looking to secure team partnerships.
