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Will Smith headlines $46 million funding round for esports group Gen.G

Funding to go toward global expansion, youth development and new LA HQ

Date Type Companies involved Size
April 18th, 2019 investment Gen.G $46m
Will Smith headlines $46 million funding round for esports group Gen.G

Esports organisation Gen.G has raised $46 million in a funding round aimed at helping the group expand globally.

The group has competitive teams in the US, China and South Korea for games such as Clash Royale, Call of Duty, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Overwatch and League of Legends.

The new funding will be invested in growing the organisation’s global presence, developing its youth esports academy program and opening up a new LA HQ in July 2019.

All-star backers

The funding round was headlined by Actor Will Smith and Japanese football star Keisuke Honda’s Dreamers Fund.

Other backers included Los Angeles Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong, former Chairman of US Investments Alibaba Group Michael Zeisser, MasterClass CEO David Rogier, New Enterprise Associates, Conductive Ventures, Battery Ventures, Canaan Partners, SVB Capital and Stanford University.

The funding round was aided by Silicon Valley Bank, which acted as Gen.G’s banking partner. The two companies are expected to work together on upcoming events this year and through to 2020.

As well as raising capital, Gen.G has appointed former Major League Baseball international business development director Martin Kim as its new VP of strategic partnerships.

“This is an incredible step for Gen.G and the vision we have for the organisation,” said Gen.G COO Arnold Hur.

“With the support of our new investors, we’re excited to bring several priorities to fruition including our LA headquarters, our continued expansion into China, our always evolving player development academy programs and a big priority for us in 2020, which is hosting Dynasty matches in Seoul.

“There is a lot of work to be done and we are very proud to have these investors on our team.”

Learn more about competitive gaming on the Esports Academy track at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle on May 13th to 14th.


Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.