Online community sim racing platform Grid Finder has been acquired by US motorsports group RAFA Racing Club for an undisclosed amount.
Founded by Tom Stapley-Bunten in 2020, Grid Finder is a platform that connects racing gamers together to race on various consoles in games such as F1, Gran Turismo and Forza. Notably, the platform has hosted activations with Formula E and Porsche Motorsport North America.
The exact figure of the acquisition has not been revealed but a release noted it was a seven-figure deal
The move signifies a further push by RAFA Racing Club into the sim racing space. Last year, the group became the title sponsor of the SRO Esports SIM Pro Series and the Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB.
In 2023, RAFA Racing Club announced its intention to launch an esports team for 2024, however, no further updates have been provided. In a surprising move, it was also revealed that RAFA Racing signed former Call of Duty esports professional Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter as a real-life driver.
According to a release, Grid Finder plans to scale its platform in 2024 by providing more tools sim racers, league managers, modders, broadcasters and commentators. The platform claims to have hosted over 3,000 racing communities since its launch, with over 500,000 drivers using the platform to find races.
Grid Finder also said it is currently working with ‘several gaming studios’ to integrate the platform into their games. Moreover, following the acquisition, Grid Finder’s team will help build tech capability across RAFA’s brands. Alongside Tom Stapley-Bunten, Chris Honniball (CIO) and Nikhil Patel (CTO) notably joined the team in 2021 and 2022, respectively, to develop Grid Finder’s technology platform.
RAFA Racing’s acquisition follows ongoing developments taking place in the sim racing scene. On the esports front, this year Motorsport UK and Simracing.GP launched the British GT Esports Cup and iRacing signed a multi-year license agreement with IndyCar.
