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The Alumni Effect: A Deep Dive into Studios Founded by Ex-Rioters

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THE ALUMNI EFFECT:

A DEEP DIVE INTO

STUDIOS FOUNDED BY

EX-RIOTERS

#2

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Number of Investments in Studios Founded by Ex-Rioters by Segment

Average Size of Early-Stage VC-backed Rounds ($m)

Since 2020, investors have deployed almost $0.5B capital across 38 VC-led rounds, backing 27 startups founded by

ex-Riot employees. Ex-Rioters average round size ($11m) is 53% higher than that of the gaming startups ($7m).

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Share of VC-backed Companies That Raised Funds After the First Round of Financing

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Ex-Rioters Studios

Other VC-backed Gaming Startups

Compared to the overall VC gaming market, a significantly higher proportion of ex-Riot teams have obtained additional

financing within the 2-3-year timeframe of previous fundraising round.

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Fund

$339.3m

$135.2m

$160.0m

$236.3m

# of deals

Value of Deals

Notable Investments

$33.7m

13

4

7

9

4

Most Active VC Funds Investing in Ex-Rioters’ Studios (2020—2024 YTD)

Well-known gaming-focused VC funds dominate funding for former Riot teams.

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Most projects from former Rioters are still in development. Some have reached the Beta stage, but most are still in earlier

production phases. Among 27 startups, only 6 companies have released products.

Company

2019

2019

Fantasy Isometric RPG — Battle

Royale (PC)

Fantasy Extraction MOBA

(PC)

Venn.tv

(finished broadcast in 2022)

2022

$87.5m

$42.5m

$55.0m

Project

Founded

$ Value

(Total)

Project Description

Multiplayer AAA (PC & Console)

Rounds

Series А (2021)

Series B (2022)

Series A (2023)

Seed (2020)

Series A (2021)

Series A+ (2023)

Top-6 Ex-Riots Companies by Total Funds Raised

(release in Q4’24)

2018

$49.0m

Seed (2018)

Series А (2019)

Series B (2021)

Fantasy MMO (PC &

Console)

TBA

2019

$43.0m

Seed (2019)

Series А (2020)

Streaming Television

Network

Pragma Engine

(2021)

2020

$38.2m

Backend Game Engine

Series A (2020)

Series B (2021)

Series B+ (2021)

(released in Mar’24)

6

FEATURE BY GDEV