Ampverse Acquires 7Sea Esports With Planned Multi-Million Dollar Investment
Ampverse has entered the Indian esports market.
Indian esports organization 7Sea Esports has been acquired by Asian esports organization Ampverse, as it enters its fourth market with India. Ampverse refers to itself as a ‘different breed of esports company’ which owns and builds esports teams across Asia.
7Sea Esports currently operates three rosters across India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. While the Indian roster competes in Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the teams from the other two regions play PUBG Mobile (PUBGM). Its BGMI lineup was announced in July earlier this year and since then it has gone on to win India Today's Dangal while also placing second at the Sky Esports Championship, establishing itself as one of the most competitive BGMI teams out there.
With Ampverse entering India, they have acquired 7Sea Esports while also planning a multi-million dollar investment to turn them into a powerful, culturally relevant brand that connects with fans at a grand scale.
7Sea Esports acquired by Ampverse receives planned multi-million dollar investment
Despite starting out in June 2020 with a stated goal of developing esports teams in South Asia, 7Sea Esports expanded in India very recently in July 2021. It currently operates one BGMI roster within the country which has quickly proven itself as a stellar competitor. Their BGMI team consists of:
Meet “Prince” Brahambhat - IGL
Taha “Aladdin” Kamkar - Filter
Sarang “Sarang” Deka - Assaulter
Harsh “SPRAYGOD” Malik - Assaulter
AFK Gaming had an opportunity to catch up with Santosh Pecheti - Founder of 7Sea Esports, to discuss their recent acquisition by Ampverse while also talking about how they plan on utilizing the seven figure investment, expansion strategy, and more.
Starting off with 7Sea Esports’ vision post the investment, Pecheti says that they are ready to take it to the next level with Ampverse. Moving forward they will be investing into the Indian esports ecosystem and growing it, bringing content creators into the space and developing a portfolio of businesses, instead of just investing into the esports teams.
Our vision was strategically aligned with that of Ampverse. When I was in Thailand, I had multiple discussions with them on how to build a brand that has an impact not just on the Indian region. So we built a business plan and an execution strategy that would propel the growth of both esports in India and 7Sea Esports. The idea we formulated in front of Ampverse, they seemed to share a pretty much similar vision. All of it perfectly aligned with the goals that we have for the next 18 months to 5 years, what we want to do in short and long term, that is how we moved forward with it.Santosh Pecheti - Statement to AFK Gaming
With this seven figure investment coming in, 7Sea Esports is also planning on expanding to other titles like Free Fire and Valorant within India. Pecheti says that they are looking to expand into both these titles at the moment and have actively started discussions with multiple rosters that they think would fit the needs of the business.
Touching upon the topic of influencers and content creators, and whether including them as part of 7Sea Esports’ plans is something they are looking at, Pecheti explains that going forward this will be one of the core goals that they have set for the next 18 months.
So there are two ways to look at it. In the current scenario most of the influencers are either signed to an organization or with an influencer marketing company. So the idea would be, either we try approaching them one-by-one and see, or we may have to work with an agency to propel the business for us. These are one of the two execution strategies that we have already built. Its just that the timing is crucial on how we want to approach this, basing on that we would be going forward.Santosh Pecheti - Statement to AFK Gaming
How does Ampverse’s expertise in the Asian esports industry come into the picture to help 7Sea Esports grow and scale? Well, according to Pecheti their CEO’s (Ferdinand Gutierrez) background with Twitch gives them the required expertise when it comes to managing influencers, managing brands that could collaborate with influencers, something that they have done previously with Bacon Time, MiTH, and SBTC Esports.
Strategically, India is of course an attractive market with a good amount of Gen-Z population that are interested in gaming, almost 350 million gamers that are there in the country. It could be a really attractive business, not just with a focus on esports players but rather building something for the ecosystem itself.Santosh Pecheti - Statement to AFK Gaming
Finally, shining some light on 7Sea Esports’ short and long term objectives post this investment, Pecheti revels that within the first 18 months they will start to propel multiple revenue streams that already exist in the market like investing in influencers, bringing sponsorships, and a few other strategic investments that they deem necessary.
Once we have started building the revenue models, we will see how we can propel them into sustainable business growth for us. We have already seen sustenance and sustainable business generation, along with good value for us in other regions. The same expertise is what we are going to use, but to do it in India, a large scale expansion is required which comes with a cost. So we understand that India is going to be a key strategic market that could generate a lot of revenue over the next 5-10 years that we are aiming for.Santosh Pecheti - Statement to AFK Gaming
What is Ampverse?
Ampverse is an esports organization based in Thailand which has now established itself in four countries: Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and India, with plans to expand into two more countries, Indonesia and Philippines. They have a proven record of acquiring and building some of the biggest esports organizations within Asia, such as Bacon Time and MiTH in Thailand, SBTC Esports in Vietnam, and their latest acquisition 7Sea Esports in India. They have also planned on making a multi-million dollar investment with focus being put towards the acceleration of esports and the gaming ecosystem in the Indian market.
Ferdinand Gutierrez, CEO at Ampverse, expresses that he is very excited for this opportunity to enter the Indian esports market. 7Sea Esports is the perfect organization to partner with as it has a track record of success and more importantly a passionate founder, now all that remains is to execute the blueprint and grow all aspects for the franchise.
Multiple esports titles like BGMI, Free Fire, Valorant are picking up pace within India and content creation around gaming is growing at a healthy rate. It will be interesting to see how 7Sea Esports can leverage the investment and expertise of Ampverse to expand its reach and mark its presence within India.
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