Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. (NasdaqCM: GMBL, GMBLW) (or the
“Company”), an online esports tournament and gaming
company, entered into an agreement to acquire ggCircuit LLC
(“ggCircuit”) and Helix eSports LLC (“Helix”) in a deal valued at
approximately $43 million.
"With the acquisition of Helix and ggCircuit, we
have created the most diversified, US-listed esports entertainment
asset in the entire ecosystem,” stated Grant Johnson, CEO of
Esports Entertainment Group. “These acquisitions significantly
strengthen our Three Pillar Strategy, adding state-of-the-art
esports entertainment centers, an esports-focused vertical
enterprise software business, a best-in-class esports analytics
platform, and a player-vs-player skill-based wagering platform to
our diversified asset base. Together with what we’ve already built
and further near-term acquisition opportunities, Esports
Entertainment Group is well on its way to becoming a global
industry leader.”
ggCircuit is a B2B software company that
provides cloud-based management for LAN centers, a tournament
platform, and integrated wallet/point-of-sale solutions for
enterprise customers. ggCircuit has over 1,000 connected locations
and has worked with enterprises such as GameStop, Dell, Best Buy
and Lenovo as well as universities such as Ohio State, Syracuse and
North Carolina. Their ggLeap product has over 60 million hours of
usage by over two million unique gamers on tens of thousands of
public gaming screens inside centers worldwide.
Zack Johnson, founder of ggCircuit, commented,
“We are excited to join forces with Esports Entertainment Group!
With our combined state-of-the-art platform and resources, I am
confident that we will rapidly scale growth in the quarters
ahead.”
“Esports are already a billion-dollar
opportunity and expanding at a CAGR of 24%,” added Murphy
Vandervelde, founder of Helix. “With growing mass market appeal and
a wealth of untapped opportunities, I am eager for Helix to become
part of Esports Entertainment Group, where we can capitalize on the
significant macro trends that will help catapult us to global
leadership in this dynamic industry.”
Helix eSports owns five esports centers,
including two of the five largest centers in the US, where they
deliver world-class customer service, esports programming and
gaming infrastructure. Helix offers a variety of experiences
including casual play, competitive tournaments, STEM programming,
high school leagues, large groups and esports bootcamps all with
the goal of leveling the playing field in esports and providing
equitable access to technology. Their centers have become the
destination for social and competitive gamers alike with monthly
tournaments and unique experiences.
Helix also owns Genji Analytics (“Genji”), an
esports-proven, publisher-trusted analytics provider. Using
sophisticated computer vision, natural language processing, and
machine learning tools, Genji delivers cutting-edge broadcast
optimization and talent scouting analytics. Genji works with
leading esports publishers and sports leagues, such as FIFA and the
NBA 2K League, to power activities like combines, drafts and
data-driven business decisions. Genji has also launched
products into Helix eSports Centers that create customized
tournament experiences, leveraging both idle computing capacity and
unique proprietary data sources. Revenue streams include platform
sales to publishers and leagues with plans to expand to all
competitive players looking to enhance their gameplay through
analysis, fair competition, and roster optimization.
“Some of the best publishers and leagues already
rely on Genji as the trusted analytics provider,” commented William
Collis, founder of Genji. “I am thrilled with the opportunity to
work together with the Esports Entertainment Group team to build on
our extensive successes as we seek to become the dominant player in
the global market.”
The acquisition also includes LANduel, Helix’s
proprietary player-vs-player wagering platform, built in Unity,
that allows for skill-based wagering on third-party video games.
LANduel’s consumer facing application enforces strict four-factor
authentication to ensure fair play and ID verification. LANduel
also holds close relationships with several major game publishers
to ensure events and wagering follow community guidelines. LANduel
is currently working alongside the New Jersey Department of Gaming
Enforcement on a pilot program. Once the model is
proven at the Helix eSports locations, LANduel can easily be scaled
to other centers throughout the US across the ggCircuit network,
and eventually into the homes of gamers through ggCircuit’s
proprietary at home product suite.
The Company plans to provide an update to its
fiscal year 2021 guidance (currently in FY 21) of $13 million after
closing this transaction. Fiscal year 2022, ending June 30, 2022,
has been raised from $25 million to $42 million.
A webinar is scheduled Monday, October
26, 2020 at 4:15 pm ET. Please register for the webinar
at:
https://www.redchip.com/corporate/webinar_register/77
About Esports Entertainment Group
Esports Entertainment Group, Inc. is a licensed
online company with a specific focus on esports and gaming. Esports
Entertainment offers fantasy and pools on various esports events in
a licensed, regulated and secure platform at vie.gg. In addition,
Esports Entertainment intends to offer users from around the world
the ability to participate in multiplayer mobile and PC video game
tournaments for cash prizes. Esports Entertainment is led by a team
of industry professionals and technical experts from the online
gambling and the video game industries, and esports. The Company
holds a license to conduct online gambling and 18+ gaming on a
global basis in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Curacao. The Company
maintains offices in New Jersey, the UK and Malta. For more
information visit www.esportsentertainmentgroup.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThe
information contained herein includes forward-looking statements.
These statements relate to future events or to our future financial
performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of
activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements since they involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond
our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.
Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with
respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks,
uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results
of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no
obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future. The safe harbor for forward-looking
statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 protects companies from liability for their forward-looking
statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act.
Contact:
U.S. Investor Relations RedChip Companies,
Inc.Dave Gentry407-491-4498dave@redchip.com
Media & Investor Relations
InquiriesJeff@esportsentertainmentgroup.com
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