Participated · Series B · Mar 2021

Maestro is a Los Angeles-based startup offering a suite of interactive commerce, community and engagement tools for livestreams. It began in the gaming community with in-stream interactive features and expanded to serve entertainers, brands, businesses and streaming platforms. The company slashed prices to about $500 per month and has worked with clients including the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Cowboys, The Wave, and artists such as Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Post Malone. Since launching monetization tools in May of last year, Maestro says it has paid out at least $5 million to entertainers. The team of about 55 employees plans to build a developer ecosystem so third-party software designers can build and sell tools through the platform, and it is adding membership, community management and ticketing features. Maestro does not offer discovery or search services, focusing instead on helping creators monetize and control their audience relationships. Maestro provides brands a toolkit for capturing data, analytics, and viewer engagement within live streams, enabling companies to create branded streaming destinations. Its tools include polling, micro-games, and other communication features, and importantly, fan data remains with the brand rather than platform owners. The company initially focused on gaming and esports and has created branded destinations for partners including Sony PlayStation, Microsoft, Pokemon, Warner Bros. Games, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Wargaming, ESL, Dreamhack, and ELEAGUE. Maestro has also signed non-gaming partners such as The Grammys and Coachella and positions its product as applicable to any live stream. The company plans to use new funding to boost sales and marketing and to target new industries. Ari Evans is founder and CEO.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2018

Epics.gg operates a digital trading-card platform for esports that lets users buy, sell, and collect cards tied to esports athletes, influencers, and certified in-game items. The cards include rich media, player stats, digital signatures, and sometimes in-game skins that users can redeem and use. The company offers “Relics,” unique cards that combine in-game items actually used by players in major competitions and a certification process to verify provenance. Epics.gg plans an integrated marketplace and trading system to enable collecting and commerce around esports memorabilia. Founders come from Xfire, LoLking.net, Esportsify, and Skinz.gg, and the company promotes owning certified pieces of esports history. The company positioned itself to capture overlap between the growing esports market and the large global collectibles market.

Led · Series A · Sep 2017

Maestro builds an interactive video platform that adds a customizable engagement layer to live streams, enabling chat/social features, in-stream ecommerce and betting, gamification, live stats, prediction games, and sponsor integrations. The platform reports strong engagement lifts for customers—an average 175% increase in watch time, 45% increase in retention, and 210% increase in revenue. Maestro’s customer base includes Epic Games Fortnite, Activision Blizzard - Overwatch League, FIFA, Microsoft, Adobe, WarnerMedia and Coachella. The company is led by CEO and founder Ari Evans and positions itself as a next-generation platform to give streamers and broadcasters more control of their content. Maestro says the platform’s analytics help customers understand viewers and correlate engagement to key metrics to maximize ROI. The recent investor support is presented as critical to the company’s growth plans in sports, esports, and traditional broadcasting. Maestro provides a white-label platform that enables enterprises to own, engage, and monetize live-stream audiences by layering real-time engagement tools—polls, commerce, contests, share prompts, and giveaways—onto existing video players. Its audience database captures user-level data and engagement metrics, positioning the product as a Nielsen-like solution for cord-cutters that trades estimates for actual user data. The company has focused on the rapidly growing esports and gaming market (citing 2.6B gamers worldwide) and counts customers including Microsoft, PlayStation, Pokemon, Warner Bros. Games, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Wargaming, ESL, Dreamhack, ELEAGUE, Coachella, and The GRAMMY Awards. Maestro emphasizes increasing watch time and driving business KPIs through two-way interactions and data-driven decisions. The company plans to use Series A proceeds to expand into additional content categories beyond esports. Financially, Maestro has raised $5.8M to date, including the recently closed $3M Series A.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2017

Fnatic is a 17-year-old esports organization and brand with a worldwide squad of 40 pro gamers across eight games and a product business selling digital and physical performance ranges and esports equipment. The company reported an 80% year-on-year increase in revenues year-to-date and said revenues from its digital and physical performance ranges rose 91% year over year in Q1 2021. Its esports equipment line grew 52% in 2020; Fnatic now has 110 employees. Fnatic raised $17 million in a recent investment round that included Marubeni, a range of international family offices and institutional investors, plus venture debt from Bootstrap. The firm has raised $53 million to date and previously completed a 2020 crowdraise joined by more than 3,500 investors. The new capital will accelerate expansion into the Japanese and broader Asia-Pacific esports markets, expand Fnatic’s base of operations in Japan, and support its Rainbow Six: Siege team relocating to the country. The company is also launching digital products and continuing investment into advanced esports equipment while strengthening its leadership team. Fnatic operates professional esports teams and has expanded into branded gear such as gaming keyboards and team jerseys. The company has been one of the most viewed western esports teams and was the second most watched team of 2020. Its teams have earned nearly $16 million in tournament winnings across 903 events. Founded in 2004 and based in London, Fnatic has raised nearly $35 million across its funding rounds to date. The company plans to use new funding to continue global expansion and support its competitive teams. Fnatic is also pursuing broader community ownership via a Crowdcube crowd equity campaign intended to raise £1 million. Fnatic is a London-based e-sports team and brand that fields players across 22 game titles and also designs hardware gear, apparel, and community experiences. The company has a staff of 75, including 45 gamers who collectively have earned more than $8 million in prize money. Fnatic operates an e-sports equipment subsidiary and plans to launch new product categories, including a new audio line. It also plans to strengthen involvement in tier-one leagues, including the League of Legends European Championship. Founded in 2004, the company announced leadership changes: CEO Wouter Sleijffers is stepping down, founder Sam Mathews will return as CEO, Nick Fry has been named chairman, and Glen Calvert appointed COO. The recent $19 million financing is intended to support these competitive and product expansion initiatives. Fnatic is a coalition of pro gaming teams competing across major esports titles such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Dota 2. The company raised $7 million in a new round of financing to expand its competitive and commercial operations. Fnatic plans to hire coaches, analysts, sports psychologists and other support roles similar to traditional sports teams. The funds will also be used to expand training facilities, grow merchandising efforts, and increase the number of academy teams. The article frames the raise within broader industry growth, citing Newzoo estimates that esports revenue is on pace to reach $696 million this year and could hit $1.5 billion by 2020. Fnatic’s leadership described increased acceptance from sports franchises, media companies and high-profile individuals as accelerating opportunities in the sector.