The money will be used to grow its business in Vietnam, recruit esports players and content creators, and launch merchandising arm

Singapore-based esports company, Team Flash, has secured US$1.5 million (S$2,084,000) in its first round of seed funding led by country-based family office Octava.

The money will be used mainly for international expansion, further grow its business in Vietnam, recruit esports players and content creators across the region, and also to focus on bringing in brand sponsorships and media partners. The startup also plans to launch a dedicated merchandising arm later this year.

Founded in October 2017 by Terence Ting and Samson Oh, Team Flash is an esports franchise that empowers talented athletes to pursue a professional career in competitive gaming. It has invested in talent and infrastructure across Vietnam and Singapore.

Team Flash currently employs more than 30 professional esports athletes and content creators in various game titles, including Arena of Valor (AOV), League of Legends (LOL), FIFA and PUBG Mobile across Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.

It previously announced a one-year exclusive streaming rights deal with NimoTV in 2018, and also recently secured a sponsorship deal with Singaporean nutrition company Fitlion with more commercial and strategic partnerships scheduled to be disclosed in the coming months. The organisation has also announced a talent development partnership with the Singapore Sports Hub.

Also Read: Tech trends of 2019 to watch out for in Singapore

Regional sports marketing agency, Reddentes Sports, is also an investor in Team Flash.

CEO Ting said: “With the rise of esports over the past decade, Southeast Asia has seen significant growth despite traditionally lagging behind our international counterparts due to a lack of capital investment and infrastructure. Our objective has always been to showcase talent from our region on the international stage and build a proper career path for our players.

Our goal is to establish Team Flash as an international esports organisation in the next 12 months, alongside our dedicated team members across the region,” he added.

Team Flash’s Vietnam team was recently crowned world champions at the AOV World Cup, winning US$200,000 in prize money and Vietnam’s first international title for esports. The same team also represented Vietnam at the inaugural Asian Games showcase in Jakarta last year. Its League of Legends team has also progressed to the finals of the Vietnam domestic league, on course to qualify for the LOL Worlds Championship 2019 in Berlin, which had a total prize pool of US$6.4 million last year.

Tan Ting Yong, Investment Director at Octava, said: “Southeast Asia has the fastest-growing esports demographic in the world and is at the cross-section of powerful trends like social connections and digital consumption of video. Looking ahead, we believe teams will benefit from the structural growth of esports into a fully-fledged professional sport. Team Flash is well-positioned in the region to do this, given their record of excellence and community outreach programmes.”

 

The post Team Flash raises US$1.5M to help esports athletes pursue a professional gaming career appeared first on e27.