EXPLORING various opportunities in esports and connecting various stakeholders in Asia are at the center of an online summit happening next month.
KK Fund, a venture capital fund investing in seed stage Internet and mobile start-ups across Southeast Asia, will be holding the eSports X Business Asia Summit (EXB Asia Summit) on April 21-22.
The two-day summit, the organizers said, will focus on the business aspect of esports in partnership with Thai start-up Infofed and global media agency dentsu X.
It, too, is geared towards accelerating growth of the Asian esports ecosystem by virtually bringing all stakeholders together to examine the latest industry trends, provide education for endemic and non-endemic brands, network with industry peers, and unlock brand sponsorship opportunities.
“Asia has the world’s largest audience of esports players and fans and has generated nearly half of all global esports revenue thus far. Though there is significant growth potential, the esports industry in the region is still young. The summit is therefore a concerted effort to kick-start better collaboration, communication and education to further develop the ecosystem,” said Koichi Saito, founder and general partner of KK Fund, in a release.
Expected to participate in the summit are major game publishers, game developers, media and broadcasting platforms, esports associations, government agencies, esport businesses and tech brands.
They include renowned industry names such as Tencent Games, SEGA, Garena, ONE Esports and Razer; and government agencies such as the Thailand E-Sports Federation, the Singapore Esports Association and the Japan eSports Union.
For the event, guest speakers are to talk about topics such as in-game monetization, esports sponsorships and mapping brand positioning with professional esports players. They will also examine case studies on building an esports ecosystem, and pioneering esports sponsorships through gaming gear collaborations.
The speakers include Haruki Satomi (chairman and CEO of SEGA Holdings Co.), Andrew Manugian (head of gaming operations at Tencent Thailand), Carlos Alimurung (CEO of ONE Esports), Lance Quek (founder of Gamerforce Ventures), Chandra Firmanto (founder of Indogen Capital), Mr. Saito, Yoshi Nakano (partnership director of dentsu Tokyo), and Om Kaosa-ard, COO of Infofed.
While the summit is a two-day event, it also features single-day activities, including the start-up pitching session happening on April 21.
In the pitching session, five selected esports start-ups will have a chance to pitch their businesses to corporates, venture capitalists and government bodies across Asia to secure potential investment.
EXB Asia Summit will be broadcast through DealRoom and EXB Asia’s social media channels.
Registration for the sessions, which is free of charge, runs until April 2, 2021. For more information, check the EXB Asia Summit website: https://www.exbasia.com/. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo