As a part of newly adopted pandemic-proof investment strategy by Striders Corporation (Headquarter: Tokyo, Japan, President & CEO: Ryotaro Hayakawa), through its subsidiary Striders Global Investment Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) made an investment into Attention Holdings Pte. Ltd. (Headquarter: Singapore, CEO: Ivan Yeo), as a part of its Series B fundraising. Striders Corporation made this investment together with Indogen Capital (Headquarter: Indonesia, Managing Partner: Chandra Firmanto), as a part of the partnership agreement signed between Striders Corporation and Indogen Capital.
Attention Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“ATTN”) is the largest esports company in Southeast Asia with operations in countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. US$12 million was a raised during its Series B round, led by Korean Investment Partners along with participation other Korean VCs and family offices based across Southeast Asia.
ATTN is the parent company of Southeast Asia’s largest esports team, EVOS. Currently EVOS has 62 players across 14 teams in 5 countries. With 18 major tournament championships in 2019, EVOS currently has a SNS follower base of more than 5 million across YouTube, Instagram & Facebook, cementing its position as the top esports brand in SEA and 6th overall globally. In 2020, Lazada (Indonesia), which operates the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, and VISA (Indonesia), the largest financial card provider entered into a partnership with EVOS to capitalize on the strong brand influence of EVOS. Currently, ATTN’s talent management platform, WHIM, manages over 100 exclusive talents along with over 300 non-exclusive talents which generates more than 350 million views monthly (total views). WHIM also signed a multi-channel agreement with TikTok and since April, WHIM’s talent base has accumulated over 600 million views on TikTok. ATTN’s focus moving forward is in developing its own platform to connect the whole Southeast Asian e-sports eco-system, allowing all stakeholders in Southeast Asia’s e-sports industry to engage with each other on one platform and it is expected that this could become the next “Super-App” in the region.
Ryotaro Hayakawa, President & CEO of Striders Corporation said that he and his team are excited to work together with Indogen Capital to help Attention Holdings to expand their esports business in Japan. He further explained that the introduction of 5G and the “new normal” created as a result of the pandemic, will help the Japanese esports industry to develop rapidly. Striders Corporation believes that the Attention Holdings could repeat their success in Southeast Asia in Japan as well, by leveraging on their in-depth knowledge and experience in the industry. Mr. Hayakawa continued to comment, “This will be the first of many more VC investments to be done by Striders Corporation in Indonesia, especially in the real estate tech and fintech areas”. Commenting on the investment, Chandra Firmanto, Managing Partner of Indogen Capital, said, “We are very delighted to have their {Striders} trust as their local partner in Indonesia. As a fund, our vision since day one never changes, that is to not only invest in prospective early stage startups in SEA region but more importantly to leverage our strong local networks in helping corporations expanding their business through partnership and collaboration. Investment in Evos is, we believe, one of many that will be materialized. Going forward, we hope that through this partnership, we can continue supporting Evos with their plan to enter Japanese market while simultaneously grow the esports ecosystem in Japan”.
Striders Corporation strongly believes that the esports industry could help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in the Southeast Asian region. esports have enabled young generation in the developing countries to become professional esports athletes and become financially independent Goal 1 (No poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger) & 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth). Low barriers for people of different genders and the differently abled people to play, helps to achieve Goals 5 (Gender Equality) & 10 (Reduced Inequalities) as well.
Striders Corporation:
https://www.striders.co.jp/english/english.html
Tel: (+81)-3-5777-0212
Attention Holdings (EVOS E-Sports):
https://www.evosesports.com/
Indogen Capital:
https://www.indogencapital.com/