eSports Investments Are Heating Up: BITKRAFT Ventures Raises $165M
With eSports and interactive technologies heating up, investors are getting in on the action. The venture capital fund known as BITKRAFT Ventures raised $165 M in capital, surpassing their initial target goal of $125 M.
Who is BITKRAFT?
BITKRAFT is a venture capitalist fund, or a fund that invests its capital in up-and-coming companies and start-ups, that focuses on the e-sports and interactive media sectors. eSports refers to competitive online gaming, which has grown substantially these past few years with the advent of streaming platforms. With the interactive media sphere heating up fast, BITKRAFT has cemented itself as one of the top VC firms in the game.
The firm's partners include some major players, such Carolwood, Bruce Kash, Declaration Partners, David Rubenstein, Jonathon Soros, and companies such as Adidas, Advance, WPP, and Logitech. With major investors and an early-entry advantage, BITKRAFT has been able to beat expectations throughout the year and build up an impressive $165 M in capital.
Could 2020 Lock-downs be Fueling eSports?
One possible explanation for the recent success could be the Covid-19 lockdowns that forced people indoors for months at a time. With other social and recreational avenues closed off, many are flocking to interactive media to fill these needs. These trends are driving an unprecedented proliferation of eSports and gaming venture capitalist funds. Whereas these just didn't exist a decade ago, now they are fairly common.
The Outlook on KITKRAFT
Moving past the present moment, will BITKRAFT be able to sustain momentum? Certainly they are banking on a continuation of the current trend, with video games steadily gaining market share vs. other entertainment alternatives. And that's not so unreasonable, even in a possible post-pandemic landscape. Recent years have led to astounding growth for franchises like Fortnite, or the world-building giant Minecraft. These entities have transcended their industry and become cultural brands with nearly universal recognizability, at least among the coveted youth consumer demographics. As the popularity of new games and platforms grows, the need for new start-ups to fill the demand may very well be substantial. If this happens, venture firms like BITKRAFT with firm stake in the game will be at an advantage.
What has BITKRAFT done so far?
So far, BITKRAFT has invested its capital across a number of ventures. One is Playable Worlds, a multiplayer online game, Manticore Games, which is a platform on which creators can actually design their own games, and Bit Fry, which generally develops sports and arcade games and brings to the table a licensing agreement with the NBA. With an impressive run so far, investors will be watching closely to figure out if BITKRAFT will level up from here.