Each week, ESI Digest breaks down the weekly happenings in the esports industry, making sense of things so you don’t have to. As well as being housed on YouTube, ESI Digest is available on all major podcast platforms and is also available in written form below.
This week on ESI Digest, we cover Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero launching an esports organisation, VENN’s $26m Series A financing round, Garmin’s new esports smartwatch, Guild Esports’ mystery sponsor, and BLAST Premier’s partnership with Nubia Technology.
Manchester City star Sergio Aguero launches KRU Esports
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has founded his own esports organisation with the launch of KRÜ Esports.
In KRÜ Esports’ reveal trailer, Aguero himself features heavily with titles such as League of Legends, Fortnite, Rocket League and FIFA featured throughout.
The reveal trailer also highlights the different continents, eluding to the new organisation having bases in South America (Argentina), North America and Europe (Barcelona).
VENN receives $26m in Series A financing round
Gaming and entertainment live-streaming network VENN has announced the close of a $26m (~£19.94m) Series A financing round.
The round was co-led by seed-round investor BITKRAFT and new investor Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Eldridge, WISE Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Josh Kroenke (Vice-Chair of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment), and the majority of the existing series-seed investor group also participated in the round.
Garmin introduces esports smartwatch
Garmin has revealed a new esports smartwatch — the Instinct Esports Edition — designed to help players track and livestream biometric data.
The Instinct Esports Edition combines Garmin’s health and fitness tracking technology with custom features designed for gamers. Using its dedicated esports activity function, the smartwatch can track and analyse heart rate and stress levels during matches, as well as spotting long-term trends.
Guild Esports announces £3.6m deal with European tech firm
Guild Esports, a U.K-based esports organisation co-owned by David Beckham, has announced in a press release that it has signed a three-year, £3.6m sponsorship deal with an unknown financial-technology company based in Europe.
The name of Guild’s new sponsor will be unveiled at a ‘global event’ on November 22nd.
BLAST Premier partners with Nubia Technology ahead of Fall Series
BLAST Premier has named Nubia Technology as its latest partner ahead of the firm’s upcoming Counter Strike Fall Series.
As part of the deal, Nubia Technology’s RedMagic 5S gaming phone will be promoted throughout the BLAST Premier Fall Series. Moreover, the firm has been named as an official sponsor for the CS:GO competition, which is set to commence on October 26th.
ESI Digest is part of ESI Network, a collection of podcasts encompassing the esports industry. For deep dives into the major areas of esports with subject matter experts, check out ESI Focus. For conversations with key personnel and major stakeholders in esports, ESI Insight is the series for you.
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