Weekly News Digest #21

Hi all,

The last few weeks have been quite modest in terms of the investment and M&A activity, which is why it’s been quite a while since we featured a proper analysis. As always, you can learn about the deals of the previous week in the “Notable Transactions” section below.

Meanwhile, be sure to check our latest Global Gaming Deals Activity Report for Q1’23, in case you missed it.

We want to thank MGVC and The Games Fund for supporting this digest.

VENTURE FINANCING

US-based entertainment and esports company FaZe Clan (NASDAQ: FAZE) plans to attract $25.3m, according to recent SEC Filings. For now, the company has raised $250k, so it might be pretty far from the closure of the round. In Jul’22, FaZe Clan went public — read more about it in one of our previous digests.

Canada-based esports betting company Rivalry, a subsidiary of Canada-based investment and betting company PMML, has raised $4m out of $6.26m, according to the offering filing. Rivalry offers its users a selection of betting opportunities, from Dota 2 and Call of Duty to sports like football and ice hockey.

Spain-based developer of Web3 services Openfort has raised $3m in a Seed funding round co-led by Gumi Cryptos Capital, and Maven 11 with participation from Game7, NGC Ventures, and Newman Capital. The funds will be used to further develop the Web3 gaming wallet and establish additional partnerships.

UAE-based blockchain games developer BoomLand has raised $1m in a Pre-Seed funding round. Hyperithm, Game7, Magic Eden, Polygon participated in the round. The company is known for its Web3 NFT multiplayer RPG title Hunters On-Chain, available on Android and the web. The funding will support the development of several other Web3 games the studio is working on.

Turkey-based mobile games developer Lumier Games has received an investment of ~$50k (₺1m) from tech influencer Hakki Alkan. The funds will finance the ongoing development of new competitive games and support the public relations activities of the company.

Xiaomi’s (HK:1810) subsidiary Hanxing Venture Capital has invested around $50k in China-based game developer and software services company Jamie Era. Established in 2022, the company is engaged in games development and software operations and maintenance.