Major League Gaming is one of the largest, most notable professional videogame leagues in the world. And now the league has the cash it needs to continue thriving after announcing yesterday afternoon that it has received $10 million in funding.
The money is expected to arrive for the MLG in the first quarter of 2011. The funding was led by an investment from Legion Enterprises, an investment firm that "invests in, acquires, and develops companies that create digital products appealing to the 16-24 year old male demographic of digital mavericks."
This latest investment brings MLG’s total funding up to a whopping $52.5 million. It has made the league’s CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni, a very happy man.
"Over the last eight years we have set out to build competitive gaming into a global, cross-platform business," said DiGiovanni. "And thanks to investments from companies like Legion Enterprises and Oak Investment Partners, that vision is well on its way to becoming a reality."
The MLG also added with this announcement claims that it now has nearly 4.5 million monthly users visiting its recently redesigned website in addition to drawing an average of 600,000 viewers to its Pro Circuit weekend competitions.
Find the MLG press release that made the announcement below.
MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING ANNOUNCES $10 MILLION FINANCING COMMITMENT LED BY LEGION ENTERPRISES AND OAK INVESTMENT PARTNERS
Company Dedicated to Delivering Superior Consumer Experience; Unveils New Features and Design at www.majorleaguegaming.com
New York – December 20, 2010 – Major League Gaming (MLG), the world’s largest professional video game league and largest provider of cross-platform online videogame competition today announced an initial close in a $10 million financing commitment to be completed in Q1 2011. The investment was led by Legion Enterprises (www.legionblog.com), a private equity firm that invests in, acquires and develops companies appealing to the 16-24 year old male demographic of digital mavericks. Legion’s investment strategy is focused directly on a demographic group it deems to be the first in a wave of digital natives which drives the firm to make investments across four key verticals: music, sports, video games and over-the-top television. Oak Investment Partners, MLG’s primary institutional investor, joined Legion to fuel MLG’s rapid globalization and development of extensive consumer and social media offerings. The investment will bring MLG’s total funding raised to $52.5 million.
MLG’s continued growth online and in live events, ongoing success in securing global sponsors and worldwide media partnerships, and strategic acquisitions have bolstered its position as the dominant competitive video game property and made it an attractive investment property. MLG now reaches roughly 4.5 million consumers each month online, produces thousands of videos per year, and reaches more than 600,000 unique viewers per live broadcast of each weekend event during the Pro Circuit competitions. To augment the online experience for its growing community, MLG recently unveiled a freshly designed majorleaguegaming.com and will roll out extensive social networking and video capabilities over the coming months.
"At MLG we are dedicated to providing our community with the ultimate competitive video game experience both on and offline," said Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO and co-founder, MLG. "Over the last eight years we have set out to build competitive gaming into a global, cross-platform business and thanks to investments from companies like Legion Enterprises and Oak Investment Partners, that vision is well on its way to becoming a reality."
MLG enables a large and growing community of fans and a roster of top sponsors to connect with and celebrate the approximately 40 million consumers in North America who have a passion for playing video games as a competitive social activity. Over 95% of these viewers are male and under 30, making MLG’s live tournament broadcasts three to six times larger in the 12-34 male demographic than nearly every primetime cable property including national broadcasts of traditional, regular season sports.
Over the past few years, MLG has made strategic investments that continue its advancement in the competitive video game space including GameBattles, which is now the largest online destination for competitive console and PC gaming featuring tournaments, ladders, forums and Agora Games, the game tech company that powers online communities for some of the most popular video game franchises including "Call of Duty," Guitar Hero," "Transformers," "Dance Dance Revolution," and "MAG." Agora technology currently tracks game-play statistics for more than 40 million gamers around the world.
