Point Roberts, WA and Delta, BC - February 3, 2021 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a global investor news source releases today's edition of the Betting on Gaming Stocks Podcast , featuring gaming, casino and e-sports stock news from TSX, TSXV, CSE, ASX, NASDAQ, NYSE companies plus interviews with CEO's and leading experts.
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Transcript
In today's episode of Investorideas "Betting on Gaming Stocks" Podcast we look at a few public company announcements.
FanUp (iOS), the best way to enjoy fantasy sports with friends and rival fans, has announced the successful completion of a $1 million Seed Round of financing, allowing the company to reinvent the fantasy sports industry, comparably to Peloton in Health and Fitness, and Spotify in Music and Streaming; with fun and visual content, social features, and data that personalizes fans' experiences with their favorite teams, players, brands, influencers, and groups. The investment round was initially led by Alumni Ventures Group/Nassau Street Ventures, Ozone Ventures, Value Asset Management and Reno Seed Fund, who bring deep expertise in gaming, and scaling consumer tech from Seed through IPO.
FanUp CEO and co-founder Tej Bodiwala said, "This is a major milestone in our company's journey, and a precursor for what's on the horizon. As fans, we've all missed the moments that connect us socially and make 'the game' part of a global culture, shared by billions. We're excited to introduce our first-to-market features and content that recreate the euphoria of March Madness, The Bachelor, IPL Cricket, and the social experience of a Super Bowl party, every time fans are in the app. We're at an inflection point and look forward to defining, and re-imagining, a new norm of fandom at a time it's needed most."
Additional investors in FanUp's Seed Round include: Ryan Moore (Founding Partner, Accomplice; Board, DraftKings), Phelps Gate Partners, George Baker (CEO, ParkHub), multi-platinum producer Shane Lindstrom (aka Murda Beatz), and Angel syndicates in NYC, Philadelphia, LA, London, and Toronto with recent exits to SoftBank and Sinclair Group.
The Seed round accelerates FanUp's entrance in the two largest gaming markets in the world (US & India), which will grow to a combined estimate of $46.2B over the next few years. FanUp has an integral focus on casual gamers, and young professionals, who offer broader market access (almost half are women) and prefer social and multiplayer features.
"For casual fans that have a wide range of varying interests, the fantasy landscape can be a tohubohu; chaotic and quite empty," said Tej Bodiwala. "We're proud to simplify the process and stay true to our mantra of innovation and fans first, always. We want every fan to have eudaemonic experiences, that brings them daily entertainment and happiness."
Value Quraishi, CIO, Value Venture Studios, Inc., says "the days of endless text scrolls are finally over. Now fans can enjoy sports the way they're meant to be. With FanUp, it's not about rosters, salary caps, and gaming by yourself. It's all about fans, their friends, and our community."
FanUp has "the sauce" for every fan, whether casual or hardcore. It's all about simplicity and ease of use. Fans can enter free-to play and cash contests in less time than it takes to pour a cup of coffee; with entertaining gameplay, including one-of-a-kind Tier contests, Squares, Pick 6, Challenges and Group Play for NFL, NBA, esports, pop culture, and Cricket (coming Mar. '21).
FanUp (iOS) launches in the US and Canada with a special Super Bowl LV Peloton and Mirror contest, and in India (Android and iOS, Mar. '21) for IPL Cricket.
Download the app in the App Store (Feb. 2), win 2,000 points instantly, and join FanUp's Super Bowl Tier Contest for a chance to win a Peloton Bike+, a Mirror Home Gym, or both! May the best fans win.
Gamers are shining the spotlight on game.tv! The mobile app is now the world's number one Esports platform. Launched just six months ago, game.tv has hit 11 million tournament registrations. It hosts one tournament every minute, becoming the go-to place for amateur gamers to play and sharpen their skills through community-driven participation, backed by gaming vloggers, influencers, and huge prize pools.
Esports has seen a phenomenal rise in global viewership in the last few years. The year 2020 presented unprecedented growth drivers for the industry, with an increased interest in online gaming due to COVID-19-related lockdown measures. Market research company Newzoo estimates that the industry reached an audience base of 500 million people approximately and destined to reach nearly 700 million by 2023.
"I love gaming and by partnering with game.tv, we're giving young gamers a chance to start their journey with a mentor every step of the way. The live stream tournaments see a lot of high engagements from amateur gaming audiences. We hope to welcome many new and ambitious players into our community," said Ritik Jain, YouTuber and Founder of Two-Side Gamers.
game.tv hosts tournaments across hundreds of communities worldwide. It has garnered 300+ top game titles such as Garena Free Fire, Brawl Stars, Clash Royale, and Call of Duty: Mobile. They also host unique "women-only" weekly tournaments, like Free Fire Diva Scrim Wars, to support emerging female players in the gaming and eSports space.
"The number of new gamers has vastly increased, and so has the time that they spend gaming each day. Many amateur gamers with no guidance on sharpening their skills in Esports. Through our platform, we support them by creating a path to become a pro at mobile Esports, while also fostering the community," said Rosen Sharma, CEO, game.tv.
Gamers compete in community-based tournaments for top game titles. They can also use the platform to become part of game.tv's rapidly expanding network of 100,000 guilds, connect and interact with teammates via text and voice chats, enjoy video content from professional gamers and top influencers, and win amazing rewards from huge prize pools.
game.tv is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The AI-based eSports assistant called "Tourney" runs automated tournaments from start to finish helping communities, streamers and content creators. Large game developers are integrating with Tourney to help create vibrant communities around their game.
"Mobile Esports is fast evolving, where the focus has shifted from a few big tournaments to organizing thousands of tournaments a day for all types of gamers. We use Tourney to host more than 1,600 tournaments a day," added Sharma.
SPREE Interactive, previously known as HolodeckVR, a global leader in multiplayer, free-roaming commercial VR attractions, has successfully secured a multimillion euro investment of an undisclosed amount, backed by investors with successful exits to Disney, to expand global operations and strategic partnerships.
"Shopping malls are desperately seeking alternative revenue streams and innovative ways to utilize the floor space, SPREE provides scalable, revenue-driving solutions to retailers," says Jonathan Nowak Delgado, Founder and Managing Director, SPREE Interactive.
SPREE Investor, Stephan Berendsen, Founder and Managing Director of Germany-based Berendsen Holding GmbH says: "After having sold my own company to Disney 15 years ago, I know what it takes for a company to become attractively scalable and profitable - and SPREE has the potential for both."
SPREE's Founder and Managing Director Jonathan Nowak Delgado says: "As we plan for our Series A round, we will continue to build upon our proprietary, patented sensor fusion technology, strategic partnerships and cutting edge content distribution platform - continuous innovation and collaboration are at the heart of our growth."
Sports Venues of Florida, Inc., (OTC: BTHR), an emerging leader in the youth sports, family sports entertainment, and eSports markets, announced its early 2021 projected corporate outlook.
2021 began with management taking inventory of all the assets that can be utilized to bring revenue to your company. Management also looks at the progress our eSports subsidiary has made since inception in the spring of 2020 and all the challenges that had to be overcame during that period. Since forming Shadow Gaming in 2020 the Company has organized and managed over 19 events with 14 different studio titles. Gamers from 30 countries participated in our tournaments. Management is continually working to identify titles that have a large and/or growing player base. Management is working diligently to upgrade from small independent studios to top tier gaming developers for which to hold tournaments in 2021. In addition, our prize pools are going to be increased to attract more talented gamers. We are in negotiations with dozens of corporations, developers, retailers, service providers to become sponsors of our events.
Esports is truly global phenomenon, with some analysts estimating worldwide viewership at approximately 300 million, potentially rising to 600 million by 2021. With so many eyeballs on esports - and with so many of those eyeballs being in a millennial category that is young, affluent, globalized, in 2009, Esports barely scratch the surface of the mainstream, by 2019 competitive and professional gaming was a multibillion-dollar industry. Esports in 2021 will begin to write a script of increased viewership that will compete with mainstream sporting events.
The Company has scheduled over 130 events for 2021 and this projection includes nearly 50,000 player registrations and over 10,000 competitors who will engage in multiple events. Management anticipates reaching over 100,000 plus in our target demographics and over 500,000 "remote fans".
Our online registrations have increased by 30% and our pay per play revenues are on track to grow at a rate of 30%+ per month average and for the month of January 2021 they increased by 12% from the previous month. Given the light tournament schedule for January, Management is encouraged with this growth.
Our social media channels are increasing at a rate of 36% per month and the Company just qualified to be part of the Discord Partnership program to promote our unique branding and receive partner only perks. Our Twitch channel has grown by 36% since August and we are on our way to be able to monetize it and be able to create another stream of revenue.
We are in the process of launching our sponsorship program where companies can sponsor any of the events and connect these players with great brands that support their passion and enthusiasm for eSports. Esports fandom is more interactive than other sports; they can chat and follow their favorite players, games and have a deeper relationship than regular sports. More interactivity means more engagement with Brands that players and spectators feel are supporting their industry.
Sports Venues of Florida, Inc., Chairman/President, John V Whitman Jr., had this to say about the outlook for 2021, "I have never started a business that has grown as quickly as Shadow Gaming nor have I ever been involved with a market sector with the dynamic growth potential that eSports currently enjoys. I believe we have the right team, the right products, and the right business model to explode revenues, viewership, subscribers, and sponsors in 2021. I am convinced 2021 will be a year of growth that will exceed the modest projections we have previously released to the public."
Motorsport Games Inc. (NASDAQ: MSGM), a leading racing game developer, publisher and esports ecosystem provider of official motorsport racing series throughout the world, announced a sponsorship agreement with Live Fast Motorsports which will see Motorsport Games IP appear on the #78 Ford Mustang for the first three NASCAR Cup Series races of the season. This agreement makes Motorsport Games a founding partner for the team with the NASCAR Heat #78, driven by BJ McLeod, taking to the grid for its debut race at the Daytona 500 on February 14th 2021.
The inclusion of the NASCAR Heat 5 branding on the Live Fast car coincides with the game appearing in Free Play Days on Xbox from February 11-14 allowing gamers to try NASCAR Heat 5, the officially licensed video game for free on the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X.
"We are thrilled to be working with Live Fast Motorsports as it makes its NASCAR Cup Series debut," said George Holmquist, VP of Marketing at Motorsport Games. "The team reflects a lot of the values we have at Motorsport Games. They are the youngest team owners in NASCAR and grew up playing video games, so this felt like a natural partnership. Being able to promote the game on Free Play Days on Xbox at the same time will also open up NASCAR Heat 5 to a new audience which is always exciting."
Live Fast Motorsports co-owner, BJ McLeod, who will be driving the #78 said: "I couldn't be more thrilled to compete in the biggest race in America, the Daytona 500, with such an awesome partner. Being a huge fan of racing games and having the opportunity to represent NASCAR Heat 5 is something that I take great pride in. I can't see a better way to kick off our team's debut season than partnering with Motorsport Games, as well as Free Play Days on Xbox."
Fellow team co-owner Matt Tifft added: "I am thrilled to have Motorsport Games as our team's founding partner. I first got my interest in NASCAR from playing racing video games, so this is a natural fit for myself and BJ! As the youngest owners in the sport, this is a great connection to our younger fans and we can't wait to have our #78 Ford Mustang on the high banks of Daytona."
Available now on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC, NASCAR Heat 5 features all the official teams, cars and drivers from the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series, as well as the NASCAR Xfinity Series™, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series™, and Xtreme Dirt Series. A host of gameplay additions and enhancements - including an immersive Career Mode with improved statistics and a new Testing Mode to perfect your set-up for every track - make NASCAR Heat 5 the deepest NASCAR game yet.
ESE Entertainment Inc. (TSXV: ESE) (OTCQB: ENTEF) announced that it has partnered with the National Football League Alumni Association ("NFLA"), the American Cancer Society, and ESTV (Esports TV), to organize the "Madden The Yard Legends Challenge" esports event.
The Event will be four-days, from February 3 to February 6, 2021, which will lead into the Esports Super Bowl Championship on the week of the Super Bowl. The Event will be bringing together professional NFL players and alumni, like former Tom Brady teammate and Super Bowl Champion Shane Vereen, and 4-time Pro Bowler and former star running back for the Green Bay Packers Ahman Green. The Event will also bring together professional gamers, and gaming enthusiasts. Participants will be playing Madden, which is a football video game. There will be daily events including gaming tournaments, live virtual music concert, networking events, broadcasting, and extensive social media interaction.
The event will be broadcast on ESTV's TV channel, Twitch, YouTube and Facebook, as well as through other distribution partners including Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV Plus, Roku TV, Sling TV and more.
ESE will be assisting with the organization and execution of the Event and through the participation of ESE's professional esports team, K1CK.
Eric Yoon, CEO of ESTV commented "ESTV is excited to be partnering with ESE Entertainment on this Super Bowl event. We anticipate attendance from many athletes and influencers, further shining a spotlight on esports. The synergy between ESE and ESTV is clear, and we look forward to doing more together soon."
"ESE is thrilled to partner with ESTV, the NFL Alumni Association, and the American Cancer Association for this Super Bowl Week gaming event. The Super Bowl is already the most viewed sporting and television event in the United States, so it is a tremendous opportunity to coordinate and execute an esports event alongside. We are excited to see how many gaming enthusiasts tune in for this great event." commented Konrad Wasiela, CEO of ESE.
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