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Kieran Holmes-Darby, the co-founder of Excel Esports, the UK-based esports org that is now known as GiantX, has joined up with League of Legends personality Caedrel once again.
Kieran has been appointed general manager (GM) of Los Ratones, Caedrel’s new League of Legends team featuring an all-star roster.
The British pair previously worked together when Caedrel was a pro player for Excel’s old League of Legends team, from November 2018 to December 2020.
Some of their moments together were captured in the BBC documentary, ‘Fight for First’, covering Excel Esports‘ aim to qualify for playoffs.
Kieran posted this tweet yesterday, and added ‘GM of Los Ratones’ to his Twitter bio:
Today he added: “Very excited to be working with this talented group of people. My friend Caedrel has a brilliant vision for what he wants to do with Los Ratones and it was a no brainer to get involved and help him bring that vision to life.”
Esports News UK understands Caedrel asked Kieran to get involved a couple of months ago, during which time he’s been working behind the scenes with Los Ratones.
Caedrel, Kieran and Mitsouko Anderson (Caedrel’s talent manager, who runs her own agency, Yume Talent) are the leadership team for the org.
Excel Esports was founded by Kieran Holmes-Darby and his brother Joel in late 2014. Following successful investment rounds, the organisation Excel were accepted into the LEC when it launched in early 2019.
Joel left the org in 2020 and Kieran left Excel in early 2022, before Excel merged with Giants Gaming to form GiantX one year ago.
“Very excited to be working with this talented group of people. My friend Caedrel has a brilliant vision for what he wants to do with Los Ratones and it was a no brainer to get involved and help him bring that vision to life.”
Kieran Holmes-Darby, Los Ratones
After leaving Excel, Kieran worked as gaming director at Formula E in 2022 and 2023, and as business director at creative agency Ear to the Ground this year. He has also offered esports consultancy to games publishers and talent managed gaming influencers to help them secure deals with brands.
Caedrel also returned to Excel as a streamer in 2022, before working with Fnatic and setting up his own team.
The news comes ahead of Red Bull League of its Own 2024 in Paris, a League of Legends event that Los Ratones will be competing in this weekend, alongside the likes of T1 and G2.
It also comes as Caedrel leaves Fnatic to focus on his own org:
Related article: Los Ratones win NNO Cup Season 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.
