ESL Gaming Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors

ESL Gaming was acquired by Savvy Games Group for $1.1B in January 2022.

ESL Gaming acquisition price

$1.1B

Acquired by Savvy Games Group · Jan 2022

Cumulative funding ESL Gaming raised

$30M

across 1 funding round

ESL Gaming Overview

About ESL Gaming

ESL Gaming is a Cologne-headquartered organizer of esports tournaments and producer of competitive gaming content worldwide. The company hosts events like ESL Pro League for Counter-Strike 2, Intel Extreme Masters across multiple titles, and DreamHack festivals in Europe and North America. ESL operates studios in Los Angeles, São Paulo, and Stockholm, streaming to over 100 million monthly viewers on Twitch and YouTube. Partnerships include Activision Blizzard for Call of Duty League production and Intel as a long-term sponsor. Founded in 2000 as Turtle Entertainment, ESL Faceit Group merged in 2022 under Savvy Games Group ownership, expanding into mobile esports with PUBG Mobile Global Championship.


Founded

2000

HQ

GermanyCologne

Status

Acquired

Customer focus

B2B & B2C

Revenue model

Advertising, Services

Valuation

$1.1B (acquired Jan 2022)

Sectors

ESL Gaming Acquisition

ESL Gaming was acquired by Savvy Games Group for $1.1B on 25 January 2022.

Before the acquisition ESL Gaming had raised $30M across 1 funding round.

Savvy Games Group, a gaming and esports company fully owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, acquired ESL Gaming from Modern Times Group (MTG) for $1.05 billion in cash. The transaction was announced on January 24, 2022, and closed later that year, with MTG receiving net proceeds of approximately $875 million after adjustments. ESL Gaming, the world's largest independent esports company, was merged with Faceit, another esports platform owned by Savvy, to form the ESL FACEIT Group, creating a global leader in competitive gaming. The deal allowed MTG to pivot to a pure-play mobile gaming company, returning at least 40% of proceeds to shareholders via share redemption and buybacks, while using the rest to fuel its gaming strategy. Savvy committed to heavy long-term investment in the combined entity to strengthen the global games community, support ESL and Faceit's leadership, and develop new services for gamers, teams, players, developers, and publishers. ESL FACEIT Group aims to provide end-to-end solutions for sustainable competitive gaming ecosystems.

ESL Gaming acquisition details
AcquirerDateTypePrice
  • Savvy Games Group
25 Jan 2022Strategic M&A$1.1B

Sources: sportspro.com

ESL Gaming Funding History

ESL Gaming has raised a total of $30M across 1 funding round.

ESL Gaming funding rounds

ESL Gaming funding rounds
DateStageRaisedDeal Summary
Sep 2019Strategic investment$30MESL Gaming, operating as ESL (formerly Turtle Entertainment), is a leading esports competition organizer, content producer, and services provider. The company has raised a total of $31.3M over 5 funding rounds, with investors numbering 6. Earlier, in July 2015, Swedish media firm Modern Times Group (MTG) acquired a majority stake in ESL for approximately $78M to $87M. Additionally, a secondary market round in October 2018 valued ESL Gaming at $200.47M, which is the closest prior valuation to the queried date. ESL was later involved in investments, such as a $4M corporate minority investment in Nazara Technologies on 2/8/2018. ESL operates in events and content production within the growing esports sector, which saw strategic investments and M&A activity throughout the late 2010s.

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Investments by ESL Gaming

ESL Gaming has invested in 1 company to date.

Latest investment by ESL Gaming was on February 8th 2018. ESL Gaming invested in Nazara Technologies in their $4M Seed round.


Latest Investments by ESL Gaming

Nazara Technologies
Description
Nazara Technologies Ltd is a mobile game company in India. The company has offerings across the interactive gaming, eSports, ad-tech, and gamified early learning ecosystems including World Cricket Championship (WCC) and CarromClash in mobile games, Kiddopia in gamified early learning, Nodwin, PublishMe and Sportskeeda in eSports and eSports media, OpenPlay, Halaplay and Qunami in skill-based, fantasy and trivia games, and Datawrkz in digital ad tech. The company's segment includes Gaming; eSports; and Ad tech. It generates maximum revenue from the eSports segment. Geographically, it derives a majority of its revenue from the USA.
HQ CountryIndia
HQ City
Mumbai
Deal Date8 Feb 2018
RoundSeed
Raised$4M
Investors-
Valuation$230M
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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ESL Gaming Competitors

ESL Gaming competitors include listed companies like DeNA and HUYA, and private ones like Skybound Entertainment, iQiyi Sports, Mobile Premier League and 100 Thieves.

Public and private companies comparable to ESL Gaming
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
DeNAJapanJapanPublicly listed$934M$174M$1.5B1.1x
Skybound EntertainmentUnited StatesLos Angeles, CAPrivate$64M-$651M-
HUYAChinaChinaPublicly listed$976M($27M)$500M0.1x
iQiyi SportsChinaBeijingPrivate--$486M-
Mobile Premier LeagueIndiaBangalorePrivate$128M-$2.3B18.0x
100 ThievesUnited StatesUnited StatesPrivate--$460M-

ESL Gaming Public Comps

ESL Gaming is no longer listed, but its public comps include DeNA, HUYA, Better Collective, MNC Digital Entertainment, Firy, GameSquare, NIP Group, Crisp Momentum and All In FutureTech.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
DeNA$934M$174M1.1x1.1x5.9x6.7x
HUYA$976M($27M)0.1x0.1x(5.3x)10.1x
Better Collective$378M$97M1.8x1.7x6.9x5.5x
MNC Digital Entertainment$212M$72M1.4x-4.3x-
Firy$104M($63M)1.5x1.3x(2.5x)(3.8x)
GameSquare$45M($29M)1.3x0.8x(2.1x)15.6x
NIP Group$127M($237M)0.6x-(0.3x)-

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Common questions about ESL Gaming

When was ESL Gaming founded?ESL Gaming was founded in 2000.
Where is ESL Gaming headquartered?ESL Gaming is headquartered in Cologne, Germany.
Is ESL Gaming publicly listed?No, ESL Gaming was acquired by Savvy Games Group in January 2022.
Who acquired ESL Gaming?ESL Gaming was acquired by Savvy Games Group in January 2022.
How much was ESL Gaming acquired for?ESL Gaming was acquired for $1.1B in January 2022.
How much funding has ESL Gaming raised?ESL Gaming has raised $30M across 1 funding round.
What was ESL Gaming's last funding round?ESL Gaming's last funding round was a $30M strategic investment round in September 2019.
Which companies are comparable to ESL Gaming?Companies comparable to ESL Gaming include DeNA, Skybound Entertainment, HUYA, iQiyi Sports, Mobile Premier League and 100 Thieves.
How many companies has ESL Gaming invested in?ESL Gaming has invested in 1 company, including Nazara Technologies.
What was ESL Gaming's last investment?In February 2018, ESL Gaming invested in Nazara Technologies' $4M seed round.

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