Blue Star’s Guild Esports signs fifth brand deal with Razer
Guild Esports (GILD) announced today that it has signed its fifth brand deal after securing a two-year global sponsorship deal with Razer, a leading global brand in the esports world.
Effective from today, the agreement will grant Razer the marketing rights and exposure across Guild Esport’s facilities; this includes the company’s planned 9,831 sq ft HQ, as well as the Company’s social and digital content featuring its professional players and content creators.
The Group, which is co-owned by David Beckham and is the first esport organisation to list on London’s stock exchange, said the total contract value is 80% payable in cash over two years.
While the value of the contract remains confidential, Guild outlined that the balance is payable as value in kind, for which Razer will be providing state-of-the-art gaming chairs for its professional players and content creators globally, along with gaming chairs for the Guild Academy and Guild’s headquarters, which will open in London’s Shoreditch later this year.
Razer, which operates one of the world’s largest gamer-focused ecosystems of hardware, software and services, is also behind the creation of the widely-followed global tournament series, ‘Razer Invitational.’ As a result, Guild Esports believes the brand is a strong partner.
Commenting, Kal Hourd, Chief Executive of Guild Esports, told investors: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Razer, a leading brand that has built a global audience and has been a staple in the esports community for many years. With a shared vision of growth and providing value to our community, we very much look forward to our partnership with Razer.”
Today’s deal also represents the fifth brand to sign with Guild. “This demonstrates the quality of partners we continue to attract because of our fan-focussed strategy, team performances and relationship with a fast-growing, young, and passionate audience,” Hourd added.
Commenting, Flo Gutierrez, the Global Esports Director at Razer, said: “Guild has established a strong presence in the esports world with great teams and a distinctive audience. With our ergonomic chairs, we’ve literally got Guild’s back in achieving greater success, as well as further strengthening our brand among Guild’s growing international fanbase.”
Guild Esport’s investors include London-listed Blue Star Capital. To date, the investment company, which is focused on investing in new technologies, has invested around £0.706 million in Guild Esports, and holds around a 5.95% of the issued share capital of Guild.
Guild started trading on the London Stock Exchange in October 2020 to take advantage of the growing esports markets, a market which Blue Star says is experiencing significant growth.
In 2020 it was estimated at around 495m viewers and is projected to reach around 646 million viewers by 2023. This is expected to result in revenues growing from $950m to $1.60bn.