London-based Veloce Esports has secured £4m GBP in its latest funding round, and announced plans to merge with Veloce Racing.

Investors in the round included former Lloyds Development Capital CEO, and current co-chairman of Veloce Racing, Darryl Eales, and former Liberty Global Executive and current Veloce Esports chairman, Eric Tveter (he also participated in a Veloce angel funding round in September 2019). 

Russian scientist, mathematician, entrepreneur, and Veloce Racing non-executive chairman, Andrei Cheglakov, and former Marussia F1 CEO, and Veloce Racing co-chairman, Andy Webb, also participated in the funding round. 

Discussing developments and plans, Veloce Esports CEO, Rupert Svendsen-Cook, said:

“The world has changed in the last few months and it has deeply impacted all sports, even esports. Our team took the initiative very early on and showed immense determination to come out of this moment in a considerably stronger position than when the pandemic started. 

“Beyond that – and speaking as someone who has recently recovered from Covid-19 – we used this time as an opportunity to raise our head above the parapet. We were there to capitalise on the surge and leverage the enhanced exposure to raise significant capital, bringing our two businesses closer together to further boost our growth plans. Between both esports and racing, we are all extremely excited for what the future holds.”

Though it previously fielded a team in Rocket League, Veloce Esports is now entirely focused on sim racing titles, fielding teams in F1 2020, Forza, Project Cars 2, and Gran Turismo. As previously reported, the organisation also operates McLaren Racing’s sim racing initiative. 

Veloce Racing is planning to compete in 2021’s Extreme E competition, featuring electric-powered off-roaders. 

Veloce Racing Chairman and ex-CEO of Lloyds Development Capital, Darryl Eales, added: 

“As investors we are extremely excited to continually help the management grow Veloce across the ever flourishing esports industry and Extreme E, the next year is going to be a busy one with Extreme E’s inaugural season kicking off in 2021 and esports’ recent boost in popularity. We’re all excited to see what the future holds for Veloce!”

AYO.NEWS says:

Though the success of its latest funding round is impressive, the most notable thing here is the fact a real-world motorsports organisation, Veloce Racing, is merging with an esports organisation, Veloce Esports. What could better illustrate the rise of esports than that!?

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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