The Swedish esports company Epulze has completed a funding round amounting to SEK 57 million. Among the new investors are well-known names such as Svea Ekonomi and Norwegian Carucel Finance, while Knutsson Holdings increases its ownership in the company.
Globally, esports has a multi-billion dollar annual turnover and live broadcasts of tournaments often draw more viewers than the largest team sports. Epulze gives amateur players of computer games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the opportunity to participate in tournaments, leagues, and matches where real money is at stake. In this way, non-pro players can experience the excitement that professional players feel, and they can do it from the comfort of their own homes.
– Epulze’s goal is to entertain the world through esports and to allow everyone to share in that special match game feeling where you compete for both honor and money, says Epulze’s co-founder and marketing manager Markus Lövgren.
Markus himself was long ranked as one of the top players on the European Dota 2 leaderboard, but even so, he had a hard time finding exciting tournaments as it’s only a privileged few that get a chance to participate in the biggest tournaments with multi-million dollar pots. Knowing that he was hardly the only one in this situation, Epulze set out to find a solution. Today, six years later, the company operates worldwide with a subsidiary in Malaysia and local offices in Singapore, Ukraine, and Brazil. The threshold for participating in matches is low and players can compete for large sums or just a few dollars.
– Our user base grew rapidly in 2020 and today we offer a world-class digital platform where we can arrange tournaments with the biggest names in esports. With new money in the coffers, we will be able to accelerate growth, and increase awareness of our offering, explains Epulze’s CEO and co-founder Mattias Lövgren.
The now-closed funding round means that Epulze enters a new phase with a heightened focus on attracting more users in key markets by adding new game titles, new functions and expanding the company’s ecosystem of professional tournaments, influencers, offline events, and broadcast production of esports.
Vator Securities has acted as financial advisor to Epulze in connection with the transaction.