Michael Rauch’s Post

Investment Bolsters Saber Interactive's Buyout & Expansion 🚀🎮 Saber Interactive, the studio behind Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2, has secured a significant investment from Aleph Capital Partners and Crestview Partners. This funding allows Saber to complete its buyout from Embracer Group, clear its debt, and embark on a new chapter as an independent entity. With over 3,000 employees worldwide, Saber is now poised for rapid growth, exploring new game genres, potential studio acquisitions, and emerging markets like VR and mobile gaming. CEO Matthew Karch emphasized that despite Saber’s global scale, they maintain a startup mentality with ambitious plans ahead. 👉 https://lnkd.in/dkANNRjb #Investment #GamingIndustry #Expansion

🎮 Nazara Gets Green Light To Acquire Bankrupt Smaaash Entertainment. Nazara Technologies has received approval to acquire the bankrupt entertainment company Smaaash Entertainment. This acquisition is poised to enhance Nazara's portfolio in the gaming and entertainment sector. 🔹 Acquisition Details: - Approval: Nazara Technologies has been given the green light to acquire Smaaash Entertainment, which has been facing bankruptcy. - Objective: To expand its presence in the entertainment industry by integrating Smaaash's assets into its operations. 🔍 Background: - Nazara's Growth: Nazara Technologies has been actively expanding its portfolio through strategic acquisitions in the gaming and entertainment sectors. - Smaaash's Legacy: Smaaash Entertainment was known for its innovative virtual reality and gaming experiences but faced financial difficulties leading to bankruptcy. 📈 Market Potential: - Entertainment Industry: The acquisition could provide Nazara with new opportunities in the gaming and interactive entertainment spaces. - Synergy: Integrating Smaaash's offerings could complement Nazara's existing gaming ecosystem, attracting a broader audience. 🌐 Future Outlook: - Strategic Integration: Nazara's acquisition of Smaaash could lead to the development of new and engaging entertainment experiences. - Market Expansion: This move is likely to strengthen Nazara's position in the entertainment market, offering diversified experiences to its user base. Nazara's acquisition of Smaaash Entertainment is a strategic step towards solidifying its leadership in the gaming and entertainment industry. #NazaraTechnologies #SmaaashEntertainment #Gaming #Entertainment #TechAcquisition #StartupNews #BusinessNews #MicroShots #NewsUpdates

Innovation and collaboration are core to #DisneyTech. I love that we are able to support the Disney Accelerator with disneyaccelerator.com. Take a few minutes today to see the new Demo Day reel linked below!

Curious about the state of M&A, acquisitions, and investments in gaming? Look no further than InvestGame’s Global Gaming Deals Report for Q1 of 2024, written by Andrei Zubov. Here are some highlights: 🔸 Q1 2024 has seen a decrease in number of deals but overall increase in deal value compared to Q1 2023. 🔹 The most notable transactions thus far have been The Walt Disney Company’s $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games, followed by CVC Capital Partners and Haveli Investments acquiring Jagex for $1.1 billion and the Take-Two Interactive x Gearbox Entertainment acquisition for $460 million.  🔸 The IPO market has been relatively tame, with high interest rates, a softening gaming market, and the weak post-IPO performance of many gaming companies cited as reasons for fewer IPOs. 🔹 Generally Pre-Seed and Seed activity remained strong, with ~3x more quarterly capital raised vs. the pre-pandemic level of ~$30m, however Series A rounds continue to slow down. 🔸 Gaming-focused funds cumulatively have raised over $15B capital to date. 1Up Ventures and BITKRAFT Ventures being the most active gaming VCs for seed rounds, while Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Ventures, and 1Up Ventures were most active on Series A rounds. I encourage you to check out more in depth aspects of the report on your own time - link to InvestGame and their other resources are in the comments. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Our Friday round up of articles & stories that caught our attention: Little Lion Entertainment, strike again by bringing the PAC-MAN experience to life: If you’re a fan of old school retro gaming, then you’ll be hyped to hear that Little Lion Entertainment and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe are bringing us a revolutionary augmented reality attraction; the PAC-MAN LIVE EXPERIENCE! This follows on from Little Lion Entertainment’s acquisition of The Ents Inc. Little Lion Entertainment founded in 2015 by Tom Lionetti-Maguire, first brought us The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience, through a smart crowdfunding campaign then received investment from Edition Capital. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength, creating hundreds of jobs and memorable experiences: https://lnkd.in/ew3u6utJ UK Boosts independent film industry with new tax relief The UK government has introduced a new Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC), offering significant tax relief for smaller-budget films. Films with core expenditures under £15 million can now claim 53% in relief, while those up to £23.5 million can claim relief on up to 80% of £15 million. This initiative is designed to drive growth in the British film industry and encourage the production of more homegrown hits: https://lnkd.in/eXew6jex Clout Kitchen raises $4.45M in seed round, to level up creator-powered gaming It was great to read that Clout Kitchen, a startup est. in 2024, blending AI with gaming and pop culture, has raised $4.45 million in seed funding, backed by a16z Speedrun and Peak XV’s Surge, with support from top gaming influencers like Gabby Dizon and Kun Gao. Their flagship product, Backseat AI, offers real-time, personalised in-game advice for League of Legends players, co-developed with famed gamer Tyler1. Hats of to co-founders, Justin Gorriceta-Banusing, Marcel Feldkamp and  Gabriel Henry Lopez https://lnkd.in/gj77mbg7 #immersive #cloutkitchen #gaming #seedfunding #BFI #bandai #startup

February is over, a leap year even, so lots of substance to talk about. It's not the best times to live in - but also not the worst. 2,5bn tracked in investment volume on our summary: The Walt Disney Company keeps making strategic move, probably triggered by all the M&A going on in 2023 and got their fingers into Epic Games for 1,5bn deal volume. #India seems to be active and partially defy the esports winter. NODWIN Gaming making a move to get their fingers into Europe and specifically Germany through the investment into Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH That's a total of 8M now into the company, solving various issues for Freakz and expanding Nodwin even further, after they long ago already left the subcontinent and now have a foothold in Africa, MENA and Europe. Jagex will change ownership and go fully into the hands of CVC Capital Partners. Deal value 900M and CVC has quite a long history of investing in sports and now also gaming. I got lots of 2-5M deals in the summary too, mostly game studios, peripherals, seed rounds etc. Quite some volume, considering that most people in both gaming and esports are all doom and gloom. Some of the deals are probably inspired by liquidity issues and hence nice M&A targets, but others clearly indicate somewhat of an appetite for investment being there. #esports #gaming #mergersandacquisitions #merger #acquisition #IPO #publiccompanies #investment #investor #gamedevelopment #gamestudio #entertainment

⚽ Drake Star #SportsTech Report for H1 2024 is out! Record 𝟐𝟐𝟓 M&A deals worth $𝟐𝟕𝐁, 𝟑𝐱 more than H2 2023 ⚽ Consolidation wave is expected to continue going forward as Q3 has already seen some large transformative deals in KKR buying Varsity Brands ($4.75B), Legends acquring ASM Global ($2.4B) and Flutter Entertainment picking up Snaitech from Playtech for ($2.6B)! H1 Highlights include:  ⚽ Strongest ever first half of a year (# of deals) with more than triple the disclosed deal value of H2 2023, notable deals included Silver Lake’s $13B acquisition of the remainder of Endeavor, Liberty Media’s $4.6B acquisition of Dorna Sports, the merger of Disney Star and Jio Media assets, CANAL+ Group’s $1.9B offer for MultiChoice Group, and DraftKings Inc.’ $750M acquisition of Jackpocket. ⚽ Private financings remained flat compared to H2’23 (360 deals) with 342 deals raising $1.9B in new capital. Early-stage financings continue to make up the majority of total financings (over 80%) while there were fewer mid to late-stage financings. ⚽ Equinox’s 1.8B in debt raise was the highlight of the first half and some of the notable equity raises included Riddell ($400M), Minute Media ($100M), Dude Perfect ($100M) and LiveMode ($85M). ⚽ Top investors focused on early-to-late-stage financings include Ryan Sports Ventures, Will Ventures, and PCV, while seed-stage investment activity was led by Eberg Capital, Antler, and Elevate Ventures. ⚽ M&A activity is anticipated to continue being strong as both strategics and PE firms are very active in the market. With valuation expectations converging and a large influx of capital, we expect to see several large deals as well as a continued uptick in small to mid-size M&A deals. ⚽ #AI, #Fanengagement and experience, #performanceanalytics, #ticketing and #venuemanagement continue to be the hot segments from M&A and financings standpoint. Download our report below for more detailed insights into the Sports Tech sector.  https://lnkd.in/gF5EeyZT #sports #media #sportsnews #mergersandacquisitions #privateplacements #IPOs

The 𝐐𝟏'𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 is out! The year started strong with multiple high value deals including the acquisition of Jagex by CVC Capital Partners / Haveli Investments for $1.1B, Gearbox Entertainment by Take-Two Interactive for $460M and The Walt Disney Company’s $1.5B investment in Epic Games. Newly announced funds are Andreessen Horowitz's Gaming Fund II ($600M) and BITKRAFT Ventures III ($275M), providing more dry powder for gaming startups. 𝐐𝟏 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: 🔵 𝐌&𝐀 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞: Higher than any quarter last year (47 deals, $2.4B disclosed deal value). Volume in the mid to small size deals increased significantly. 🔵 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤: Notable uptick in private financings (188 deals, $2.4B+ raised) reversing a downward trend in deal volume since mid 2022. 🔵 For investments over the last 12 months, BITKRAFT Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Griffin Gaming Partners, Play Ventures and vgames were top VCs. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤: 🔵 𝐌&𝐀 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞: Savvy Games Group/ Scopely, Tencent, Take-Two Interactive and Playtika are expected to be some of the active buyers. Given the attractive public company valuations, we except several acquisitions and take-private deals to be led by PE firms in the coming quarters. 🔵 Growth in financings & AI expected to stay hot: Early-stage companies will continue to dominate the deal volume and expect a modest increase in mid / late-stage deals. #AI, #mixedreality, platform and tools continue to be hot segments. Download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gN5_3cjw #games #mergersandacquisitions #gaming Drake Star #vcfunding #vc #ipo

🚀 The sports tech industry has witnessed an incredible surge in 2024, with a record-breaking number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPOs). Let's dive into the highlights of this exciting year in sports tech! 🏋️♂️ Last year, we saw a staggering increase in total M&A and the number of deals, setting a new record. In 2024, the trend continued with some high-profile IPOs: Keen - China's most popular fitness app Amer Sports - parent company of renowned brands like Salomon, Wilson, and Arc'teryx Lottomatica Group - the first Italian operator in the legal gaming market Although the overall IPO market faced challenges, the sports tech sector remained resilient and demonstrated its potential for growth. 📈 It was a record year for sports tech with announced deal value surpassing 2022 (by a margin of over $16B). Key stats from the year include: M&A activity increased almost 3x over 2022. The Media & Broadcasting segment saw the largest deal activity. Wearables & Performance Enhancement reported a significant increase of over 2x in deal activity over 2022. Some notable acquisitions (all over $1 billion) include: DraftKings' acquisition of Jackpocket for $750m. The buyer scene in 2024 is set to see more entrants, with companies like Entain, Sony, Light and Wonder, and Flutter driving M&A and private equity funds like TGI/Bruin and Kore/Serent completing deals. Sports tech companies have been growing exponentially, with over 20,000 sports companies listed on platforms like Tracxn, and about 15% of them being funded. Acquisition stats show a healthy time to acquisition and average price, which is encouraging for sports tech startups. In conclusion, 2024 has been an incredible year for the sports tech industry, with record-breaking M&A and IPOs. As we look forward to the future, the sports tech sector is poised for even more growth and innovation. #SportsTech #MAs #IPOs #Growth #Innovation Profluence Sports

As we find more ways to 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 to the industry at Profluence Sports... It's an honor to be named an "Investor to Watch in 2024" by Drake Star: 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: ❶ M&A activity increased almost 3x over 2022 (excluding the $68.7B Activision/Microsoft deal). ❷ Media & Broadcasting segment saw the largest deal activity + Wearables & Performance Enhancement increased 2x in deal activity. ❸ $5.7B was raised through 790+ private financings including 14 large $100M+ raises. ❹ 2024 is already off to a fast start with DraftKings acquiring Jackpocket ($750m), Charter House acquiring Bruin Capital’s Majority stake in Two Circles ($315m), Silver Lake reportedly considering selling parts of Endeavor, and Reliance/Viacom getting close to buying Disney’s India unit. Thanks to Mohit Pareek, CFA and the Drake Star team for a great report. https://lnkd.in/eBcN5Fiu