E-sports platform Attention Holdings (ATTN), the parent company of Jakarta-based EVOS Esports, has raised USD 12 million in a Series B round led by Korea Investment Partners, as it looks to capture the untapped e-sports markets in the region.
“The majority of this new funding will be used to build out our tech capabilities,” EVOS Esports’ chief strategy officer Teng Jen Ang told KrASIA. “We’ll launch a new subsidiary called Attention Tech and it will roll out a tech platform in 2021.”
In the round also participated Mirae Asset Ventures, Woowa Brothers, Indogen Capital, as well as several family offices across Southeast Asia and Japan, together with existing investor Insignia Ventures Partners.
“Global e-sports revenue is projected to grow at 15% CAGR, with our region showing the highest growth rate at 24%,” said Ivan Yeo, chief executive officer of ATTN. “As the countries we are operating in are still largely untapped, we intend to maximize this opportunity and are well positioned to launch the region’s first ever e-sports platform.” The company said that the revenue from its livestreaming arm has doubled since the beginning of 2020.
Founded in 2017, EVOS Esports houses over 15 professional e-sports teams across six major games such as League of Legends and Arena of Valor and focuses on player development as well as influencer management and merchandising. The firm currently operates in six countries including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Southeast Asian nations have embraced e-sports with fervor like no other country in the world, with audience numbers for livestreams, re-runs, and other online content reaching almost 30 million in 2019, up 22% from the previous year. The region’s e-sports industry generated game revenues of USD 4.4 billion in 2019, with year-on-year growth of 16%. Mobile games accounted for USD 3.1 billion, or 70% of the total revenue, according to gaming industry analytics firm Newzoo.
The news came less than one year after the firm secured USD 4.4 million in a Series A round in November last year.
