August was a month of somewhat bad news for big names in esports. FaZe Clan reported a net loss for the second quarter of 2022, and Enthusiast Gaming followed suit on the same day with another announcement of a loss. Nevertheless, Oddin.gg raised a sizeable sum and there were some developments from Brazil to keep last month very interesting.
From FURIA launching esports venues to Oddin.gg raising money there is a lot to talk about.
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Brazilian esports organisation FURIA will expand its presence in the US by launching a new venue in Miami, Florida. This is another step in the organisation’s global expansion plans, and is the first of its kind outside South America.
The 5200 square feet venue, which is planned to open around October or November, will feature a LAN house, FURIA clothing shop, an area for events and a stage for esports fans to watch FURIA games live.
Esports betting odds provider Oddin.gg has raised $4.5m (£3.7m) through its Series A funding round.
The funding round, led by current investors as well as Genting Ventures and Velo Partners, will be used to scale the company further and develop ‘new verticals’. The funds will be used to improve Oddin.gg’s portfolio of services. According to the company, this means providing betting operators with “everything they need to set up successful business operations”.
It feels like all we do in these reports is talk about FaZe, but there are new developments with the NA giants. North American gaming, esports and lifestyle organisation FaZe Clan has reported its first financial results since becoming a publicly listed company.
The organisation’s Q2 2022 report reveals a net loss of $9.32m (~£7.73m) for the period ended June 30th, 2022, an increase over its $7.63m (~£6.33m) net loss record in Q2 2021.
Speaking of losses, Enthusiast Gaming, the parent company of North American esports organisation Luminosity Gaming, has announced its financial results for both Q2 and H1 2022, ending June 30th 2022.
The company has announced a net loss of $26.05m (~£21.56m) for H1 2022, which is a marginal decrease from the $26.4m (~£21.8m) loss recorded for the same period last year.
Multinational technology company Sony has announced the acquisition of esports tournament platform Repeat.gg as part of its ongoing PlayStation-focused esports expansion.
Sony is looking to expand the breadth of its esports offerings as well as encourage gamers’ engagement with competitive play. Financial details were not disclosed.
Web3 esports engagement platform Yesports has raised $3.8m (~£3.2m) in its latest funding round.
The funds will be primarily used to hire staff members. According to a release, Yesports continues to develop an engagement platform that aims to connect ‘over 500 million global esports fans’ with their favourite teams. The funding round included a number of web3 venture capital firms, some of which participated in the first funding round earlier this year. Rising Captial, BR Capital, and NGC Ventures all participated.
Toronto-based esports and gaming company Tiidal Gaming has announced plans to rebrand to Sportsflare and sell its esports team assets.
After the divestiture, the company intends to focus exclusively on its technology division. Specifically, this will be through its esports betting solutions firm Sportsflare. The rebrand is expected to come into effect towards the end of the year.
