Gfinity Plc announced late last week that it had raised £6,250,000 following an oversubscribed placing.
The placing, conducted by Allenby Capital Limited, saw new and existing institutional and other investors of 31,250,000 Placing Shares at 20 pence raise proceeds of £6.25 million before expenses.
The Placing Shares represent approximately 16.56% of the issued share capital of the Company as enlarged by the issue of the Placing Shares. The recent round of investment will see Charles Street International Holdings Limited grow its share of the company from 29.98 to 29.99%, whilst Euroblue Investments Limited and Mike McTighe have kept their shares at 13.93% and 3.18% respectively. Neville Upton, CEO, has seen his share of the company fall from 9.35% to 7.8%
The reasons for the placing, and use of proceeds are outlined in the release as follows:
- Further investment into the wholly owned Gfinity Elite Series: £1.7 million to “accelerate long-term revenue streams such as franchise fees, sponsorship programmes, advertising revenue, broadcasting rights and online betting”.
- Develop an industry leading proprietary esports technology platform to automate esports competition management: £0.6 million to develop the technology and allow third parties to build esports competitions under a “white labelled” software licensing and revenue model;
- Investment in new senior management: £0.5 million to hire a Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer and also to increase the strength of the Gfinity broadcasting team.
Neville Upton, Chief Executive Officer of Gfinity, is quoted as saying: “I’m delighted to announce this oversubscribed Placing, reflecting support from both new and existing shareholders and the success of the Gfinity management to date in establishing a leading brand in the fast-growing esports sector. These new funds will allow Gfinity to further invest in the Elite Series, a new “bedroom to podium” esports structure in UK, as well as investing further in our market leading technology platform and personnel. Importantly, we are now well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity presented by continuing growth in the esports sector and the strong reputation that the Company has already carved out within that.”
The article also suggests the Elite Series will get underway in Summer 2017 after it was delayed last week although nothing is confirmed.
Esports Insider says: More money going into Gfinity as theey look to progress their Elite Series. As shown by the £1.7million allocated towards the Elite Series it’s safe to suggest that the product wasn’t and isn’t finished and wouldn’t have been ready for the initial launch date. Roll on summer and the Elite Series!