Mumbai-based media company AFK Gaming has raised $200,000 (~£154,472) in a Pre-Series A round from Indian investment company Inflection Point Ventures.
The investment comes following a notable period of growth for the Asia-focused esports content platform.
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The funds will be used to link reach to revenue through programmatic and direct advertising as well as expanding AFK Gaming’s scope to additional esports titles in Southeast Asia.
Nishant Patel, Co-founder of AFK Gaming, spoke on the investment in a release: “Despite some of the best esports teams, tournaments and players hailing from the Asian region, there is a distinct lack of coverage available for the global audience. AFK Gaming aims to bridge this gap by marrying our understanding of esports content creation with IPV’s expertise in building scalable, sustainable businesses.
“Through IPV’s network of senior business professionals, we hope to jump the learning curve with respect to media monetization, fundraising and other key elements for our growth.”
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Vinay Bansal, Founder and CEO of Inflection Point Ventures, is similarly excited about what the latest investment will bring in the current economic climate: “The ongoing pandemic has introduced us to many aspects of keeping ourselves engaged. Esports and e-gaming have also emerged as new aspects for many of us and companies like AFK Gaming have played a part in keeping us informed about esports in the lockdown.
“The impact is clear as they registered 4X growth in users. We believe [the] emergence of esports will see an accelerated acceptance in India. Just like healthcare and education, tech will also disrupt many high-ticket sports properties and we believe AFK Gaming is posed well to leverage this opportunity.”
Esports Insider says: Indian esports has a lot of potential for expansion with a rapidly growing middle class and consumer base with disposable income. With this latest round of funding to be used to target the SEA market, it will be interesting to see how AFK Gaming’s content evolves in the coming months.