Mentioned in this article Teams: Fnatic Games: League of Legends

Fnatic, a leading esports team, just closed a $7 million funding round and is ready to further push esports into mainstream culture. The capital will be used to cement the London-headquartered organisation’s infrastructure including acquiring new coaches, analysts, sports psychologists, additional facilities, academy teams and more.

One of the most decorated organisations in the business, the Fnatic flag currently flies over 10 professional teams. Their newest investors include Jim Pallotta’s Raptor Group (owner of professional football team AS Roma and basketball team CS Celtic), Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab; Hannes Wallin, CEO and Founder of Fractal Design; and the Hersh Interactive Group.

When asked why one of the oldest esports organisations decided to take investment this late in the game, Fnatic Chairman and Co-Founder Sam Mathews told The Esports Observer:

“Esports is at an incredible inflexion point right now, with lots of opportunities to innovate, so it’s no secret that we’re trying that with launching BUNKR or Fnatic Gear. All of these new initiatives take time, focus and investment to do them right, which is what the money is helping to achieve. Furthermore there’s been a significant rise in player salaries across the board, due to all the outside investment into teams in general, so further investments were needed in order to stay competitive and increase our chances of success.”

Having recently peaked one million followers on Twitter, Fnatic demonstrated how esports teams can evolve into lifestyle brands. Last year, Fnatic Gear was unveiled exclusive branded peripherals, including headphones and professional-grade keyboards. The company ventured out into publishing with its ‘How To Be a Professional Gamer’ guide for League of Legends, and its esports concept store, BUNKR, has become a familiar part of London’s infamous Shoreditch neighbourhood.

“For us the next steps evolve weekly, so our goal is simply improvement and innovation on everything we do,” said Sam Matthews. “We really do believe esports is the future of sports, but that will take a lot of work.”

Esports funding deals make weekly headlines, but Fnatic are perhaps the only organisation to announce its investment with a solid seven digit figure. From its social media strategy to the way its partnership help introduced AS Roma into professional Fifa, it’s unsurprising that this archetype in esports marketing now have such notable financiers.