Fnatic secures $19m in Series A funding
Fnatic’s incredible 15 year journey today starts a new chapter as the organisation has raised $19m USD in Series A funding. This investment will help Fnatic continue its global expansion into Asia and North America, strengthen its involvement in tier-one leagues including the League of Legends European Championship, continue to partner with the most forward-thinking global brands and launch new product categories of its Fnatic Gear gaming peripherals including an exciting new audio line.
Leading the investment round is tech entrepreneur and founder of VK (Russia’s largest social network) Lev Leviev of LVL1 Group who joins the board with support from investors Beringea, BlackPine, Unbound, Raptor Group and Joi Ito.
Supporting the next stage of Fnatic’s rapid growth is a new leadership team which sees founder Sam Mathews return to the Chief Executive Officer CEO role while former Mercedes AMG F1 CEO Nick Fry has been named Chairman and founder of Affectv Glen Calvert has been appointed COO. Meanwhile, former CEO Wouter Sleijffers has stepped down after four years of helping expand Fnatic’s global team and reinforce the organisation’s position as leaders on the competitive stage.
“This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of Fnatic” said new CEO Mathews, adding: “I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 15 years and now is the time to build on this strong foundation to realise our vision of being the leading global esports brand. To have such high calibre investors is telling of the potential they see in Fnatic and our future. We would not be at this point without the invaluable contribution of Wouter over the last four years, we are extremely grateful and sincerely wish him all the best.”
Below is a statement from Wouter Sleijffers, reflecting on his time with the organisation:
When starting over 4 years ago in Fnatic, I could not have envisioned in my wildest dreams the journey and the transformation we’ve gone through. Fnatic, already the world’s most recognisable and successful competitive organisation in esports, transformed itself into a groundbreaking global brand representing the passion of billions like no one else does. Or simply said, to make every esports fan feel super proud and show the world what esports really is about.
We’re embarking on the most exciting time for esports. And Fnatic is ready more than ever. An unrivalled legacy of esports success, epic apparel, ground-breaking esports gear and impactful best-in-class partnerships is just a few of the things. And so, it’s time for others to break more grounds and continue carrying the Fnatic mission under Sam Mathews' visionary leadership, Patrik Sattermon’s competitive mentorship and everyone else’s passionate and relentless energy in Fnatic.
I’m grateful for having been among an amazing team of people, amazing players and staff, amazing fans, amazing partners and having made a lot of amazing friends along the way. To be part of Fnatic, is truly unique. We all wrote a part in the esports history books and Fnatic will continue to do so. Thank you for making Fnatic awesome!
I wish everyone much esports excitement and fortune ahead. No doubt our paths will cross again and I look forward to stay in touch.
Wouter
For further information please contact press@fnatic.com