Say what you want, but the reality is that eSports is booming and Singapore startup Spout360 seeks to lead the charge.
Games like Overwatch, Hearthstone, and League of Legends have come out on top in fierce competitions across the world, where the prize money are often in the millions.
Spout360 Aiming For The Top
Admittedly, not everyone can be a competitive gamer.
Spout360 aims to become the biggest eSports network in Southeast Asia. This is done via Spout Entertainment Group, where Daryl Teo is CEO, and which Spout360 is under.
Together with Spout Agency (an eSports influencer talent agency) and Cite (an e-education platform for emerging markets such as the Philippines and Myanmar), the Spout360 team seek to support potential competitive gamers.
Today they announced a new round of seed funding – US$2.1 million – from venture company, Reapra Investment Holdings.
The VC founder, Shuhei Morofuji, and Chief Financial Officer, Takeo Matsuda, will be joining the Advisory Board at Spout, while Daryl will be a part of Reapra’s 5-seat Investment Committee as part of this funding.
Myanmar Expansion And Zaany Acquisition
This new cash injection will be beneficial for Spout360’s latest plan – their expansion into Myanmar. The startup plans to commit an initial US$600,000 to provide free educational resources for the local community.
These resources come as pre-recorded videos and live streaming, and will be delivered via Spout’s Content Management Platform. This platform translates, transcribes and smart-renders video files, in real-time.
In addition, Spout mentioned a recent acquisition. Venture builder, Zaany Technologies, will be under the Spout Entertainment Group after being acquired for an undisclosed amount.
Zaany counts some famous past clients in their books, such as Grab, Dropbox, Singapore Tourism Board, and Accelerate Korea (a South Korean government startup incubator).
Helping Out Aspiring Entrepreneurs
The first project post-acquisition for Zaany will be their new one-year partnership with international consulting firm GAC.
They will be providing a one-stop service for business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to create their own mobile apps, websites and technology companies, all of which are essential to have your own startup today. This will be done via government grants and subsidies to leverage on the Smart Nation initiatives.
This last bit is definitely the most exciting as not every founder is a tech whiz capable of developing an online presence, so a helping hand is always welcome.
If you are interested to seek their help, you can drop them a message at community@spout360.com