Israeli esports organisation Finest has announced that it will cease its esports operations, just months after purchasing Monaco Esports for $10m (~£7.6m)
According to Finest’s official statement, the decision was made after key investors decided to back out from making further investments. The reasoning given for this is the world’s ‘macro-economic situations’, as well as the financial unpredictability of owning an esports team.
The decision to shut down its esports operations seemingly occurred very quickly, with Finest stating that the organisation couldn’t have foreseen this happening a couple of weeks ago.
Founded in 2019, Finest had competitive rosters in VALORANT, CS:GO and sim racing. Its most notable achievement came from Valve’s FPS title, winning this year’s Pinnacle Cup IV to claim its $80,000 (~£71,400) prize pool. The organisation also placed second in VALORANT’s Northern Europe regional league (VRL: Polaris), losing out to UK organisation EXCEL ESPORTS.
Prior to the announcement, it seemed that Finest was stable, both financially and commercially. Earlier in the year, the organisation announced that it had purchased Monaco Esports from the Monaco Esports Fédération. Moreover, Finest extended its partnership with blockchain company Tezos in June 2022.
Some of Finest’s other commercial partners included Noblechair, Logitech and Pizza Hut, among others, according to its website.
In the official statement, Finest commented: “It is with a heavy heart, but after nearly two years of successful esports operations and building up of the Finest brand and community, we are shutting down our professional esports operations.
“We want to thank our teams who have all worked very hard and made real concrete steps forward in establishing the Finest brand.
“The achievements and successes we’ve enjoyed as a team are all due to your collective hard work and we want to thank them and appreciate all the efforts and hard work very much.”
Despite its esports operations shutting down the organisation did state that it will remain in the esports industry in some capacity. Finest listed pivots into technologies, products, and services as examples.
