eSports firm Azubu receives £40m and aims to take on Twitch

Azubu, an eSports entertainment company, are celebrating after receiving just shy of £40m in an investment round led by London based Sapinda Group and Sallfort Privatbank of Switzerland.

The money will be used to expand the operator’s global presence and to develop a customizable live video streaming service. There are an estimated 100m viewers around the world at present who watch live eSports streams each month, and this number is increasing all the time. In the current market Amazon owned Twitch are the largest company offering such a platform, whilst Youtube Gaming is another popular alternative.

Azubu is relatively unknown in the UK and Europe at this time but is well known in Brazil, Germany and Korea. An LA-based firm, it already has established a presence in Vancouver and Seoul.

Chief operating officer Jason Katz stated: “We are expanding operations in a number of new regions around the world and creating bigger and more content partnerships and corporate relationships, which we’re looking forward to announcing in the near future.

“This latest round of financing will support our global growth and expansion into 2016 and beyond.”

The funding follows the launch of Azubu 3.0, an improved video player service which allows users more freedom in how their streams appear on their screens. Moreover it allows anyone to be able to stream their gaming sessions.

Azubu CEO Ian Sharpe told Wired: “Being an open platform, and enabling everyone the right to stream, was the natural next step in our platform evolution.”

He added: “People not only want to stream, they want to stream alongside some of their favourite eSports stars that exclusively stream on Azubu. So by going open platform we provide that experience.”

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