Stakester Raises $2M to Give Noobs and Leets a Bite of the Esports Money Pie

Elite Team Includes Players from Rockstar Games, Humble Bundle and Zynga

LONDON and NEW YORK CITY – November 12, 2020 – Stakester, a competition marketplace helping gamers and sports enthusiasts to add a new dynamic of entertainment and monetize their skills, today announced a $2.7M seed round led by RTP Global with participation from high-profile angel investors Jens Lapinski, CEO of Angel Invest and former MD of Techstars, and Chris Adelsbach, UKBAA Angel Investor of the year for 2018/2019, founding partner at Outrun Ventures and venture partner at Techstars. Alexander Pavlov, managing partner at RTP Global will join the board.

The round will be used to grow Stakester’s community of both gaming and sports enthusiasts looking to up the entertainment value of their sessions by raising the stakes, as well as help the 76% of adults hoping for more opportunities to monetize their skills and capitalize on the $1.1 billion esports market[1]. Currently available in 38 U.S. states, the United Kingdom and Singapore, Stakester was founded around two key tenants: users shouldn’t have to be in the top 1% of players to be able to make money off of their skills and should control their own destiny, backing themselves rather than betting on others whose performance is out of their hands.

The all-star team of industry visionaries includes Rockstar Games co-founder Gary J. Foreman, who helped create the company’s iconic Grand Theft Auto franchise, and Alan Patmore who joined the advisory board bringing his years of expertise as EVP and GM of Humble Bundle and prior GM of Mafia Wars and CityVille at Zynga.

“The meteoric rise of esports, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, coupled with the recent reversal of the 25-year federal ban on sports gambling creates a huge opportunity,” said Pavlov. “Especially exciting is the emerging scene of people relying on their gaming skills to generate income – that’s exactly what Stakester is poised to tap and has an impressive team to do it.”

Stakester has already inked a key partnership with Europe’s premier esports league, ESL, contributing to its growth since the app launched earlier this year in May. It’s aptly poised to take advantage of the continued rise in gaming and esports partly fueled by the ongoing disruption of regular routines due to the pandemic that is keeping many at home.

“Attracting top-tier, early-stage investors such as RTP Global and the likes of Chris and Jens, validates our vision and gives broad business credibility to the burgeoning professional gaming market,” said Tom Fairey, Stakester CEO. “We’re also excited to have our own advisory board member Alan Patmore join the round; true to the Stakester ethos, he’s backing himself and we like his odds.”

To find out more visit www.stakester.com or start backing yourself with the Stakester app for Android and iOS.

About Stakester

Founded in 2019, Stakester is a global competition enablement platform that supports both esports and ‘IRL’ sports. Its mission is for all competitors to be able to back themselves and earn money from their hard-earned skills. The company promotes three core beliefs – Back Yourself, Power Comes from Community, and Gambling is Stupid. The team is co-located across London and NYC. Download us on Android and in the Apple App Store.

About RTP Global

RTP Global is a Venture Capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments. RTP Global has invested in 90 companies founded in more than 10 countries across U.S., Europe, India and South-East Asia. Five early-stage investments became multi-billion public companies: Yandex, EPAM, Delivery Hero, RingCentral, and Datadog. We have built our flexible approach and fast-paced, decision-making team around the needs of business founders because we understand what it takes to create market disruption. We know that exponential growth is possible when the right investor is matched with the right founder around the right idea. RTP Global has offices in New York, London, Moscow and Bangalore.

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