North American esports organisation M80 has raised $3m (~£2.43m) in a seed investment round.
The funds will be used to ‘expand [M80’s] footprint across esports, content creation and consumer products’, according to a release. M80’s goal is to build the world’s first web3-enabled gaming and esports organisation.
The release also states that M80 will ‘unlock new ways for fans to engage with the brand’ through M80 Labs, the company’s innovation arm. It will develop and launch consumer packaged goods, digital items, and explore innovations in web3, blockchain and other emerging technologies.
The $3m seed round was led by ExpertDojo, VT Technology Ventures and Practical Venture Capital.
M80 is a US-based organisation which was founded by Marco Mereu, who co-founded and was the Chief Operating Officer at XSET. In November 2022, Mereu officially left XSET. M80 competes in VALORANT, Rocket League, Rainbow Six: Siege and Street Fighter V.
According to the company’s website, its partners include the likes of Secretlab, Aimlab, Zowie, Gamesense, Esportudo, Omnicoach and WME.
“At M80, we aim to build a different kind of esports organisation that puts the power in the hands of our fans,” said Marco Mereu, Founder and CEO of M80.
“In just a few short months, we’ve become one of the fastest-growing and most engaged-with esports organisations in the world. We are leaning into the creator economy to offer meaningful and rewarding ways for our community to engage with the M80 brand. And we’re just getting started.”
