eSports is an emerging market that many investors are becoming involved in. Gamers competing against each other at a professional level brings in millions of viewers and millions in revenue yearly. 100 Thieves is an emerging team on the eSports scene managing teams while also being a lifestyle brand. Drake has become invested in this team and he’s not alone. Scooter Braun and Dan Gilbert are becoming involved in 100 Thieves as well. Even Michael Jordan has invested 26 million dollars to become majority shareholder of Axiomatic Gaming, owner of Team Liquid. With these new investors, we may be able to see eSports become mainstream and become an even larger player in global markets and culture.
According to Statista, the eSports market is experiencing a rapid growth, despite being in its formative stage. In 2016, worldwide revenues generated in the eSports market amounted to 492.7 million U.S. dollars. By 2020, the market is expected to generate over 1.48 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, which indicates a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent. These revenues came from betting, prize pools and tournaments, but overwhelmingly from sponsorship and advertising, which brought in almost 661 million U.S. dollars in 2016. In terms of revenue, Asia was the biggest eSports market overall, followed by North America and Europe.
