UK-based organisation Guild Esports have today announced a brand has purchased up to £1m in Guild shares, as the org look to expand in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
Guild have signed a subscription letter with an ‘international esports, content creation and media brand’, which has taken up to 200,000,000 ordinary shares in Guild to raise up to £1m before expenses.
The funds will be used to help grow Guild within the industry ecosystem as well as facilitate international expansion.
“The company intends to target new geographical areas and audiences, with a particular focus on MENA,” it was noted in a Guild financial update this morning. “MENA is an area of rapid growth for gaming and esports, estimated to have 87.9m gamers by 2026 (source: Statista, 2023), and acts as a geographic bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, all of which have growing gaming communities.
“Regional governments are investing heavily in esports, with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently announcing the Esports World Cup, expected to have the largest prize pool in esports history (source: Reuters, 2023).
“There is immense international appetite for esports, particularly in the MENA region which is rapidly emerging as an esports hub.”
Jasmine Skee, Guild Esports
“The directors of the company believe that MENA offers the opportunity for rapid growth and are keen for Guild to establish an immediate foothold in the region.”
The news comes one week after Guild Esports applauded the announcement of a new Esports World Cup set to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
Guild’s board also said they anticipate that ‘both companies will explore avenues for how collaboration can benefit each other’s businesses, partners, audience footprint and generate future value’, and that the investment and proposed partnership are ‘a continuation of Guild’s long-term strategy to establish itself as a leader within the esports, media and gaming sector’.
Jasmine Skee, CEO of Guild Esports, commented: “This subscription marks a significant milestone in Guild’s journey and paves the way for exciting opportunities ahead. There is immense international appetite for esports, particularly in the MENA region which is rapidly emerging as an esports hub. The investment is crucial to furthering our vision of becoming the leading international esports and gaming-focused media brand and Guild looks forward to deepening ties with a complementary business.”
Stephen Duval, Special Advisor to the Board of Directors at Guild Esports, added: “This deal is an exciting development for Guild. We believe the investment and partnership (in due course) will work seamlessly within Guild’s strategy to solidify itself as a globally robust leader in the esports and gaming ecosystem.”
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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.
