Dele Alli-backed esports firm Excel raises £17m from City investors July 2, 2021 Excel, a British esports franchise endorsed by Tottenham Hotspur footballer Dele Alli, has secured millions of pounds in funding from some of the City’s biggest investors. The rapidly growing gaming organisation, which competes in the League of Legends and Fortnite divisions, today announced a £17m funding round. JRJ Group, which bought a minority stake in [...]
David Beckham-backed Guild Esports signs up Samsung as a sponsor June 21, 2021 David Beckham’s London-listed Guild Esports organisation has signed Samsung as a sponsor. The one-year deal to be Guild’s official display partner is the electronics giant’s first with a British esports team. Samsung is meeting the undisclosed value of the deal with 50 per cent cash and 50 per cent value in kind, in the form [...]
Premier League deal: Fast-growing sportswear brand owned by Andy Murray signs up Wolverhampton Wanderers May 21, 2021 Fast-growing UK sportswear brand Castore, which is part owned by Sir Andy Murray, has agreed its first kit deal with a Premier League club. The company will now supply Wolverhampton Wanderers in a multi-year partnership thought to be worth several million pounds. It comes less than a week after it was disclosed that the Liverpool-based [...]
CEO of Flutter sports betting platform FanDuel steps down May 12, 2021 Sports betting and gaming group Flutter Entertainment has confirmed this morning its FanDuel chief executive officer will exit the top position after four years leading the sports gaming platform. Despite handing in his notice, Matt King has chosen to remain with FanDuel until a successor has been found. “It has been a privilege to lead FanDuel [...]
Spy scandal: Businessman admits smuggling marine tech to China April 28, 2021 A Chinese businessman has pleaded guilty to smuggling marine technology out of the US to help China’s efforts to develop underwater military drones. Shuren Qin, a marine biologist who owns a company that sells oceanographic instruments, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to illegally exporting devices called hydrophones, which monitor sound underwater. His plea related [...]
6 esports business leaders that you should follow March 31, 2021 | City Talk Esports has become a global phenomenon that has created a new class of super star celebrity and plenty of healthy competition between world-class professional esports teams. In 2019 approximately 32% of Internet users aged between 16 and 24 watched esports. Then came the lockdowns of 2020, and viewership skyrocketed. Twitch saw an increase of 17% [...]
eSports team expands into India March 26, 2021 | City Talk One of Europe’s biggest eSports brands, Team Vitality, has today announced its first all-Indian mobile eSports roster. The move represents the Paris-based eSports brand’s first major expansion beyond Europe and its first foray into the world of mobile eSports. The announcement reconfirms the brand’s plans to globalise its teams into Asia and South America. The [...]
Keywords Studios appoints interim bosses as CEO steps aside due to health reasons March 15, 2021 Video game company Keywords Studios has today announced that Jon Hauck and Sonia Sedler have been appointed as joint interim CEOs with immediate effect. The pair will take over from Andrew Day, who will take a temporary leave of absence from the business for health reasons. Hauck has become a key member of the group’s [...]
Nintendo profits soar as home gaming booms in 2020 February 1, 2021 Video game giant Nintendo saw its profit almost double in 2020 as the world played games at home during the pandemic. The Japanese company said its April to December profit surged to 376.6bn yen ($3.6bn) from 196bn yen in 2019. It reported more than a 10 per cent rise in its Switch games console sales [...]
GameStop rises on Wall St open as FCA issues trading warning January 29, 2021 GameStop stock was up more than 100 per cent as US markets opened today, as popular trading platform Robinhood eased restrictions on buying into the stock. The army of small investors behind this week’s dramatic squeeze on Wall Street hedge funds returned to drive shares in GameStop and other hot companies higher on Friday as online broker [...]