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Nerd Street Gamers Closes $11.5M Additional Funding Led By Venture Capital Giant Founders Fund
Nerd Street Gamers, the national esports infrastructure company, announced that it has raised $11.5 million in additional funding led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Founders Fund, captained by Brian Singerman, bringing the company’s total funding to approximately $25 million.
Nerd Street experienced explosive growth thanks to its digital platform, even with Localhosts, the company’s esports and gaming centers, closed for the majority of the past year due to the pandemic. The platform, which offers affordable competitive experiences like tournaments, camps and coaching, grew its membership by more than 218% since 2019. Meanwhile, Nerd Street’s Twitch Channel, where the company live-broadcasts its tournaments, grew over 4,066% in minutes watched and grew from 13K followers to over 120K this past year.
With an eye towards a post-pandemic future where gamers will need affordable access to high-quality equipment more than ever, Nerd Street continued opening new Localhosts in Austin, Philadelphia and St. Louis in 2020. Over the course of the next year, Nerd Street is planning to open 20,000+ square foot regional Localhost facilities in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, and is rolling out several Localhosts in collaboration with teen and tween-focused retailer Five Below.
“Nerd Street being added to Founders Fund’s portfolio of industry-pioneering organizations is one of our greatest honors to date,” said John Fazio, founder and CEO of Nerd Street Gamers. “Within minutes of meeting Brian, it was clear that he was profoundly aligned with our vision and mission. Backing us during the uncertainty of a global pandemic is a testament to Brian’s bold foresight and an incredible validation for our entire team.”
As a partner at Founders Fund, Brian Singerman seeks out companies that will provide value to investors and humankind alike. Nerd Street was an attractive investment for Brian as he has a background as a gamer and immediately saw Nerd Street’s long-term vision to help the industry offer gamers the same opportunities that traditional sports provide athletes.
“I was impressed with John from our first meeting and knew I wanted to help advance his vision of building a robust infrastructure to support gamers of all ages and skill levels,” said Singerman. “As a gamer myself, I’ve watched the massive growth of esports over the years. Esports are surpassing traditional sports in number of players and audience size, especially among younger demographics, and Nerd Street is in a perfect position to capitalize on that shift.”
TaDa Gaming has further strengthened its position in the rapidly growing Latin American market through latest partnership signing with Brazilian operator, Cactus Gaming. This deal gives more players greater access to the TaDa portfolio of games and newly launched engagement tools across the region.
The partnership follows on from a slew of new signings for both companies and will enable the integration of the TaDa portfolio into Cactus Gaming’s platform through a single API.
With over 150 certified, licenced, and localized releases available in up to 20 languages and with over 100 payment options, TaDa’s renowned Fishing-Shooting arcade games, Plinko, Crash, Bingo, and Table slots are already highly popular across LatAm, driving new player sign up and enhanced retention.
The recently released TriLuck series of 3 Coin Treasures, 3 Lucky Piggy, and 3 Pot Dragons are currently TaDa’s top played games across Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Each slot delivers three separate features interacting together to deliver accumulative wins, plus the chance to unlock all three features in a single spin for significant win potential.
Brazilian operator Cactus Gaming adheres to the same standard of regulation as that embraced by TaDa Gaming. Recently obtaining certification from Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) has enabled Cactus Gaming to double down on its commitment to raising national standards for iGaming in a newly regulated market and ratifying the company’s commitment to serve its customers better.
Ray Lee, Director of Business Development at TaDa Gaming, said: “Brazil is an important market for us and one in which we are actively building our reputation. Working with a national operator of Cactus’s calibre is part of our commitment to ensuring our localisation is second to none; so that players enjoy a premium experience with every TaDa release. We look forward to bringing a new energy for iGaming to players in Brazil and across the region overall.”
Felipe Vieira, CEO of Cactus Gaming, said: “We are committed to being the No. 1 destination for quality gaming across Brazil. Our determination to provide this superior offering means partnerships with innovative and regulated content providers are key. We are delighted to have TaDa’s immersive releases available through our platform, giving our operators and players enhanced choice and entertainment.”
Enthusiast Gaming Holdings announced that it has teamed up with Frigo Cheese Heads, the string cheese brand owned by Saputo for sponsored activations including a media sponsorship of NFL Tuesday Night Gaming’s (NFL TNG) Season 3 debut episode.
Frigo Cheese Heads sponsored the ‘Chomp or Peel’ segment of the debut episode of the popular gaming series in which talent was put on teams based on whether they “Chomp” or “Peel” their string cheese. Frigo Cheese Heads also sponsored two pieces of shoulder content, featuring Super Bowl champion T.J Ward and YouTube gaming sensation Matthew ‘MMG’ Meagher in which they discussed football and their Top 10 Team Power Rankings.
“We’re excited to partner with Enthusiast Gaming as a segment sponsor of the debut of its third season of NFL Tuesday Night Gaming. Cheese Heads is a brand that strongly supports young people expressing themselves creatively – whether that’s in the way they make a trick play while gaming or how they choose to eat their string cheese,” said Jenny Englert, marketing director at Saputo USA.
This premiere episode surpassed 7.4M impressions in the first week and built upon the success of this summer’s NFL FLAG SPECIAL. Showcasing the increasing popularity of NFL Kickoff, the season debut increased 30% on its well-regarded off-season episodes and displayed the continued growth of NFL Tuesday Night Gaming.
“Season 3 of NFL TNG is all about hosting gamers and NFL players who want to share in the experience of gaming together, and NFL TNG’s new couch co-op format delivers that. We’re seeing immediate results in this new iteration of the program, which is delivering strong viewership and retention, allowing us to target these engaged viewers with integrated branded moments that build brand awareness and consideration for our media partners,” said John Norwood, Executive Vice President of Content at Enthusiast Gaming.
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