Yesterday, North American esports organisation Beastcoast closed its pre-seed funding round at $2.5m (~GBP1.8m).
The capital raise saw participation from Andover Ventures, Elevate Ventures, and Techstars, alongside angel investors Steven Temares (formerly of Bed Bath & Beyond) and Scott Dorsey, a Managing Partner at High Alpha Ventures.
(ESI Illustration) Image credit: Beastcoast, Marko Blazevic
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According to the release, the funding has been utilised over the last two years throughout the pre-seed round to facilitate Beastcoast’s expansion. This included bolstering its content team, acquiring a North American Rainbow 6 Siege Pro League slot, and expanding into Dota 2.
Beastcoast has also announced that following its pre-seed closure, the esports organisation plans to commence its seed round in Q2. Through this funding, the organisation is looking to expand into additional titles, grow its marketing divisions and acquire a studio facility.
Beastcoast’s Co-CEO, Brian Anderson, spoke on the announcement via a release: “Esports monetisation is fundamentally broken and it’s with the support of our amazing investors and partners that Beastcoast is trying to solve some of the problems plaguing underperforming organisations and gaming media companies.
“We are so excited to see where the next year takes us on this journey creating amazing gaming moments for our fans and viewers around the world.”
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Alongside securing a range of partnerships with HyperX, Respawn Products and Betway, among others, Beastcoast became the first esports company to join Techstars as part of its Sports Accelerator programme. The initiative is designed to scale sports tech startups.
Elevate Ventures entrepreneur-in-residence Eric Steele, added: “We are excited to join Beastcoast in their efforts to transform the esports industry.
“They have built a strong team and have established themselves as a potential market leader within a booming industry.”
Esports Insider says: The closure of Beastcoast’s pre-seed funding at $2.5m partially explains the esports organisation’s recent growth over the last 12 months in particular. With the organisation also announcing its intention to start its seed funding round and goal to expand into other titles, it’ll be interesting to see how much Beastcoast develops in the near future.