Asia
Tier One Entertainment raises Pre-Series A financing to expand presence across Asia
Tier One Entertainment, the gaming and esports entertainment pioneer and leader in Southeast Asia, has raised an undisclosed amount of financing on its recent Pre-series A round.
The Pre-series A round was led by Gobi Partners through its Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, a joint-venture fund with Core Capital. In addition, Warner Music Group joins the round as part of their strategic investments in the region. Warner Music Group Corp. is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate that is considered is one of the “big three” recording companies worldwide. Meanwhile, Gobi Partners is one of the longest-standing venture capital firms with a Pan-Asian presence across North Asia, South Asia, and ASEAN, with over US$1.2 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Octava, a Singapore-based family office, KAYAC Inc, a Japan-based internet company, and Tier One Entertainment’s early stage investor, Atlas Ventures have contributed to this round.
Started as a professional talent agency, Singapore-registered Tier One Entertainment is now the largest gaming and esports entertainment provider in Southeast Asia, housing 420 talents with a cumulative reach of 100.9 Million on Facebook, 23.5 Million on Youtube, 11.8 Million on Instagram, and 9.1 Million on Tiktok.
The infusion of finance will power Tier One Entertainment, currently operational in Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines, to set up local operations in other Asian countries.
The proceeds of the financing will be specifically utilized to hire back-end teams that will further support their talents, expand their esports operations in Blacklist International, Tier One’s Esports team, and set-up their first content creation hub in the Philippines.
“The gaming industry is going through a golden age and this funding will help accelerate our growth by allowing us to replicate our success in other markets. In just a few years of operations, we’ve found a winning formula in esports and gaming by developing a robust business model around top tier content creation and authentic distribution. We firmly believe that we are an Asian behemoth in the making and now that we have more support from established venture capital firms around the globe, Tier One Entertainment is now poised for explosive growth,” Tryke Gutierrez, Founder, and CEO, Tier One Entertainment, said.
Tier One Entertainment was founded in 2017 by esports veteran Tryke Gutierrez, cosplay and gaming superstar Alodia Gosiengfiao and seasoned entrepreneur Brian Lim. Together, they sought to revolutionize Southeast Asia’s esports landscape, bringing their expertise in creating winning formulas to turn their talents into gaming superstars.
“We have come a long way since our first business meeting at my home in 2017. With the growth of mobile gaming, streaming and esports as an avenue for youth entertainment, we came up with the foresight to develop and house these talents by building our very own YG Entertainment of gaming. We are truly grateful for our new backers for believing in our vision that we can take this company to the next level,” Alodia Gosiengfiao, Co-founder, Tier One Entertainment, said
The company has locked in top talents in the Philippines, Myanmar, and Malaysia to date. As COVID-19 accelerated gaming and esports’ interest, they plan to take advantage of this growth by acquiring more up-and-coming talents in other markets.
“Tier One showed their resilience and agility through their meteoric rise in the industry. Not only did the team understand the complex space of esports and entertainment, Tier One continues to thrive by expanding its footprint across the region. We’re excited to have Tier One join our portfolio of startups under the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund”, Carlo Delantar, Partner, Core Capital, noted.
The esports company is also backed up by Bitkraft Ventures and Atlas Ventures during its seeding round and has clients such as Foodpanda, Unilever, Riot games, Samsung, Smart communications among others under its business portfolio. The company positions itself as capital efficient and generating multimillion in annual revenues.
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Onlyplay has entered into a strategic partnership with online casino and betting company Ritchie Rabbit within the Asia region.
Ritchie Rabbit is said to have “extensive expertise and deep understanding of the Asian market,” which helps Onlyplay as it seeks to expand its presence in the region.
Through this deal, Onlyplay will introduce a range of games and features designed specifically for the Asian gaming community.
Onlyplay offers a wide range of games such as instant win, slots and crash games, and will now provide games for players in Asia.
Christina Muratkina, CEO of Onlyplay, said: “It is a great pleasure for us to develop the Asian region alongside Ritchie Rabbit. We recognize the immense potential of the Asian market and are committed to delivering top-notch gaming content and experiences to players in the region. This partnership represents a significant step forward in our efforts to offer innovative and engaging games that resonate with our Asian audience.”
The post Onlyplay Enters into Strategic Partnership with Ritchie Rabbit appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Hub88 has partnered with live casino supplier LiveGames, further strengthening its product offering by adding a unique range of content to its platform.
LiveGames provides fully customisable online live dealer games and branded tables including the first vertical roulette table in the sector, along with crash games and the widely played Tombola.
The supplier delivers experiences with a player-focused design, easy to use mobile interface, and high-resolution broadcasts.
The partnership will support LiveGames’ goal to further expand in international markets, including Africa, Asia, and Latin America where Hub88 has a strong presence.
The deal showcases Hub88’s commitment to grow its ecosystem of partners, offering a diverse portfolio of products and content.
Ollie Castleman, Head of Hub88, said: “We’re thrilled to unveil this strategic partnership with LiveGames which sees us add a great provider to our platform, one that utilises modern technology to offer bespoke and personalised gaming experiences to players.
“We are looking forward to collaborating and strengthening our content library with their diverse games.”
The LiveGames Team said: “Our journey started in a small studio and as a team, we are excited about now expanding to every corner of the world together with Hub88 and their extensive operator network.
“We are committed to promoting innovation in the industry and this partnership will support us on that mission.”
The post Hub88 partners with LiveGames to enhance content offering appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has chaired a limited meeting which discussed the efforts taken to eradicate online gambling in the country on Thursday 18 April, at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. Minister for Communication and Information Technology Budi Arie Setiadi, in his press statement after the limited meeting, said that the Government will form a task force to counter online gambling.
“It has been decided that within a week, we will formulate measures to form an integrated task force in order to eradicate online gambling,” Budi said.
Minister for Communication and Information Technology mentioned that forming a cross-ministries/institutions task force is aimed to handle online gambling more thoroughly, collaboratively and efficiently.
“Gambling is an illegal act based on regulations. So, we need to impose measures effectively to settle it,” Budi stated, adding that his ministry will focus on handling online gambling websites and contents, while the law enforcement officers will enforce the law.
“Our authority is only to take down the websites, while the Financial Services Authority (OJK) blocks their financial accounts, and then followed by law enforcement officers, police officers, and the public prosecution service officers,” he remarked.
Similarly, OJK’s Chairperson of Commissioner Board Mahendra Siregar also highlighted the importance of holistic measures in eradicating online gambling in Indonesia.
“Some online gambling activities are not conducted in Indonesia, some are cross-borders, some do not use bank accounts, some needs to be tracked and traced through bank accounts, including transfers and so on. So, the next layers must also be addressed, and that way it leaves no empty rooms,” Mahendra explained.
Mahendra said that according to the institution’s authority, from the end of 2023 to March 2024, OJK has blocked around 5000 bank accounts that indicate its relation to online gambling.
“So far, we have cooperated closely with Communications and Information Technology Ministry. So, if we receive a list of bank accounts suspected to be used or are being used in online gambling activities, we immediately block them, and it has reached up to 5000 bank accounts,” Mahendra mentioned.
The post Indonesian Govt to Form Task Force to Tackle Online Gambling appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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