Esports org 100 Thieves raises $35 million in Series B

100 Thieves has today announced the close of a $35 million Series B funding round. Artist Capital Management led the round, with ACM’s Chief Investment Officer Josh Dienstag joining Mike Sepso, MLG co-founder, on the board of directors. Aglaé Ventures, which is the technology investment firm of Groupe Arnault, controlling shareholder of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), also participated in the round.

CEO and founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag confirmed to TechCrunch that this latest round brings 100 Thieves’ post-funding valuation to $160 million, which is up from the $90 million valuation it had in October 2018.

100 Thieves was founded in 2017. Haag is a former pro gamer and content creator with one of the biggest followings in esports.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned going from gaming to leadership is ‘over-communicate, over-communicate, over-communicate,’ ” said Haag, explaining that he went from working by himself creating content to working with many people each day. “Making sure we’re all aligned on our goals for each day and each week and each month, to have an open and transparent environment, really builds a culture where everybody enjoys working with one another. Over-communication helps drive success.”

The org is co-owned by Drake, Dan Gilbert and Scooter Braun, alongside Haag. 100 Thieves has three revenue channels.

The first is esports. Right now, the organization competes in Call of Duty (where its team has won the last two tournaments), League of Legends and Fortnite (100 Thieves is sending six of its players to the Fortnite World Cup).

The second channel is content creation. 100 Thieves includes big-name streamers such as Jack “Courage” Dunlop, who has nearly 1.9 million Twitch followers, and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, who has more than 800,000 Twitch followers.

Finally, 100 Thieves has gotten into apparel, with limited-edition hats, sweaters, jackets and t-shirts. As of right now, everything in the 100 Thieves Shop is sold out.

“What’s hurt me the most is having so many community members not be able to purchase this apparel for themselves,” said Haag. “We want 100 Thieves to be all inclusive. If you want to support us, you should be able to.”

According to Haag, one goal is to expand into new esports titles — a few titles in consideration include “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” “Rainbow 6 Siege” and “Rocket League.”

Another top-of-mind goal is building out a new HQ facility in Los Angeles that will house the esports, content creation and apparel divisions all under one roof. The 15,000-square-foot facility will include streaming stations, a content production sound stage for 100 Thieves’ two podcasts and will serve as the storefront for 100 Thieves apparel lines.

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