ReKTGlobal, the parent company of esports teams such as Call of Duty side London Royal Ravens and LEC champions Rogue, has been acquired in a deal worth around half a billion dollars.
Infinite Reality, a company focused on the metaverse and born out of a merger between Display Social, Thunder Studios and Infinite Metaverse, announced it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire ReKTGlobal.
The deal is worth $470m in stock, based on an equity valuation for Infinite Reality of $2bn, for a combined post-close valuation of $2.47bn.
“We are extremely excited to announce this acquisition to all of our investors, employees and clients, as well as all Rogue and Royal Raven fans around the world. We are beginning the next chapter in our evolution into the metaverse.”
Amish Shah, ReKTGlobal
Founded in 2017 by industry veterans Dave Bialek and Amish Shah, ReKTGlobal has grown to acquire/consist of several different businesses: the esports side, content creation and marketing company Greenlit Content, digital media agency Fearless Media, fan engagement and monetisation platform FullCube, and digital talent management company TalentX Entertainment. Infinity Reality will integrate these four divisions.
ReKTGlobal hired Team Dignitas founder Michael ‘ODEE’ O’Dell in 2019 as chief gaming officer, and he has spearheaded the Royal Ravens’ launch in the Call of Duty League.
ReKTGlobal currently has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Charlotte, London, and Berlin. Investors in ReKTGlobal include the band Imagine Dragons, Nick Gross, son of billionaire investor Bill Gross, DJ Steve Aoki, and Summit Partners, to name a few.
“This acquisition is another step in our journey towards becoming the leading metaverse entertainment company in the world,” said Infinite Reality CEO John Acunto. “The synergies across our combined business units from content creation to Web3 entertainment to APIs and more are awe inspiring. We look forward to working with ReKTGlobal’s senior leadership to integrate our valuable combined assets and accelerate Infinite Reality’s growth.”
“We are extremely excited to announce this acquisition to all of our investors, employees and clients, as well as all Rogue and Royal Raven fans around the world,” added Amish Shah, ReKTGlobal founder and chairman. “Our journey does not end today. We are beginning the next chapter in our evolution into the metaverse. The explosive combination of our shared collective assets together creates a dominant, unstoppable force in the marketplace.”
The London Royal Ravens had a strong start to 2022, but recently finished in 7th-8th position in the CoD League Major 2.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
