Sports Media Report
eSports remains the Wild West, with companies looking for the best way in but knowing very little. A new advisory business launched today with the hopes of bringing some sanity to all aspects of the fast-growing platform, from events to the college space.
ReKTGlobal, Inc., announced a business expansion with the official launch of three new ventures for the business community; ReKTVenues, ReKTLive and ReKTMedia.
Originally launched September 2016, ReKTGlobal’s new additions of ReKTVenues, ReKTLive and ReKTMedia aim to bring eSports to its full potential and build on the company’s existing brands including a careers platform ReKTJobs, consultancy ReKTAgency and collegiate eSports connector ReKTUniversity.
“My vision is that every city will have an eSports venue and every professional sports team will have an eSports strategy,” said founder Amish Shah in a release. “ReKTGlobal has the solutions to help them navigate through the ecosystem,” continued Shah, an early investor in the eSports space with Gameco, the “First Video Game Slot Machine,” professional eSports Team EnVyUs and Drone Racing League before finding the sweet spot of eSports infrastructure building with ReKTGlobal.
The ReKTGlobal executive team includes founder Shah, also a founding partner of venture capital firm SierraMaya360, who was joined in 2017 by co-founders Dave Bialek, a 25-year sports marketing veteran and Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 recipient; Christopher J. Steele and Christopher Golden of Sterling Select, a venture development and investment platform affiliated with Sterling Equities; and Counsel Charles Baker, a top sports, media and entertainment attorney.
“We at Sterling Select, considered partnering with Amish in his investment in Team EnVyUs in early 2016 but ultimately decided it was too nascent and unchartered at the time,” said managing partner Christopher J. Steele. “However, when Amish came to me and shared his vision for ReKTGlobal and esports infrastructure, I determined that it was a better fit for the Select platform. Given the estimates of the growth of the industry, Select’s sees ReKTGlobal as being in the right space, at the right time with the right team, which we are excited to be an integral part of as co-founders.”
Also joining the launch team is Vice President of eSports Kevin Knocke, an industry go-to who has led content and events for partners like Blizzard Entertainment, IGN, SiriusXM, Sony, SXSW, E3 and many more.
With all that experience maybe this will be the sane place for brands, teams and even pro sports leagues to go to navigate what is becoming an insane and reckless money grab. Professionalism in the space is needed.
