Team Griffin Parent Company STILL8 Raises $4.5M Investment

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• Korean esports company STILL8 has raised ₩5B KRW ($4.5M USD) from two South Korean investors: Dunamu & Partners, and Murex Partners.

• The company has raised a total of ₩23B ($19M) to date and is looking to source further funding in 2020.

• Proceeds from the funding round will go towards building Team Griffin’s brand and expanding into new games and geographies, the company said.

STILL8, a South Korean esports company founded by former StarCraft I professional player Seo “shark” Kyung-jong, secured a ₩5B ($4.5M) investment from two South Korean Investors: Dunamu & Partners, and Murex Partners. Including this investment, STILL8 has raised a total of ₩23B ($19M) from investors including Kakao Ventures, Partners Investment, STIC Investments, TS Investments, and Neptune.

Talking to The Esports Observer, STILL8 explained that they have plans to cooperate with fintech firm Dunamu, an affiliate of Dunamu & Partners, following the investment. Existing STILL8 investor Kakao Ventures is one of the major stakeholders in Dunamu.

Both Lee Beomsuk, CEO of Murex Partners; and Kang Dongmin, vice-president of Murex Partners; are familiar with STILL8’s growth potential as they were with Partners Investment when the firm invested in STILL8 before they established Murex Partners.

In a release, Seo Kyung-jong revealed that STILL8 plans to use the recent proceeds to continue investing in building Team Griffin’s brand and expand into new games and geographies. The current investment is a bridge funding supporting the scaling of the business while looking for further investments in 2020.

Asked by The Esports Observer, STILL8 pointed out that the company is building its business around the needs of gamers and fans. Unlike many of the top Korean esports organizations, STILL8 is not a corporate social responsibility (CSR) product sporting the name of a corporation and chooses to separately activate business brand STILL8 and esports team brand Griffin.

STILL8 operates a number of businesses in the esports industry including the Korean esports organization Team Griffin, which fields teams in League of Legends, Overwatch, and PLAYERUNKOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS. Team Griffin’s League of Legends team competes in Korea’s highest tier national League of Legends esports series, the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK).

Furthermore, the company is the IP and content management firm for several of South Korea’s top esports organizations and is planning to enter the business of sports sponsorships, global media rights management, and professional esports talent development.

Earlier this year, The Esports Observer sat down with STILL8 CEO Seo Kyung-jong to talk about his globalization plans for STILL8 and Korean esports.