After a rather fine 2020 commercially — especially considering the circumstances — the Chiefs Esports Club and parent company ICON have kept that momentum rolling into 2021, announcing $2.15 million in capital raised in early February.
The capital sees local online payment processor SQID Technologies Limited come on-board with the storied and venerable Oceanic organisation.
Chiefs parent company, ICON, have earmarked the capital for use both within the Chiefs brand itself, as well as other revenue drivers outside of their core esports operations. In particular they have targeted Q2 of this year for the launch of new ecommerce businesses to support future operations and expansions.
SQID Technologies promises to be a valuable partner in this endeavour, as their position ‘providing merchant services and ecommerce customers across both Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer segments’ is one ICON and the Chiefs will undoubtedly find themselves in need of shortly.
Nick Bobir, ICON and Chiefs’ CEO, remarked on their success, despite 2020 being “a tough year around the world.”
“We were able to successfully grow the brand while building aspects outside of the core esports business,” he said.
This success is underpinned by their sector-leading deals with L’oreal Paris Men’s Expert, Menulog and Marvel, among others.
Bobir went on to elaborate, “It was also important to spend the last 18 months building a sustainable business and move into profitability, which we managed to achieve. We are excited to now focus on key growth areas across the Chiefs and ICON network in 2021 and beyond.”
SQID’s CEO, Athan Lekkas, expressed his excitement to join the “clear industry leader in the region.”
“The team at ICON have done a tremendous job building a sustainable business with significant revenue in an embryonic industry that is set to take off,” he said.
Even during a global pandemic they have been able to deliver key campaigns with some of the largest brands in the world. With the implementation of SQID’s resources including our payment technology and mobile platforms we look forward to continuing to exponentially grow both businesses together with shared goals and vision for the future.”ICON have taken the Chiefs from strength to commercial strength since acquiring them in 2019.
It’s clear they aren’t done yet, and the impacts across the servers promise to be as exciting as this news itself for Chiefs fans.
