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Skillz is going public on NYSE via merger with SPAC Flying Eagle

At a valuation of $3.5 billion

Skillz is going public on NYSE via merger with SPAC Flying Eagle

Competitive mobile games firm Skillz will go public as it is set to make a quick initial public offering.

As reported by GamesBeat, the company will raise around $849 million through investors with a valuation of $3.5 billion.

Skillz will become a public firm later in 2020 on the New York Stock Exchange via a reverse takeover of special purpose acquisition company Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp, which is already listed on the NWSE. 

LionTree Advisors and Jefferies are acting as financial advisors to Skillz.

"Everyone wants to compete, right? And that was the premise of the company, the one simple belief. We're building out the competition layer of the internet. Everyone everywhere wants to unleash their inner champion in competition. We're really excited about this next milestone," said Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise.

"We're right on track to achieve our goals going public. So it feels really good to have that long-range plan and to get there."

A growing industry

Skillz was founded in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength as more and more people began to realise the potential of mobile esports. The American company itself takes iOS and Android games, and turns them into a competition, allowing users to compete against friends and other players for cash prizes.

Moreover, the company has proven to be charitable, having partnered with a variety of organisations to raise money for worthy causes, including Comic Relief US, NAACP and the American Red Cross.

"We're a democratising factor of the mobile gaming industry, where small independent developers can build real businesses alongside the giants," said Paradise.

"Most of the businesses on the platform have really grown with us. One started as a husband-and-wife business, and now they have a 20-person company and double-digit millions in revenue. We were the first company to believe in mobile esports. We run the infrastructure for the developers, and they focus on what they do best, which is to make great games."


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Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.