Livewire, an Australian-founded gaming marketing & gametech start-up, has expanded its reach to global advertisers in the gaming sector after announcing it has successfully raised AU$4.7M in a Series A funding round.
With nearly 50 per cent of the world’s gamers in the APAC region and a compelling proposition for both brands and gaming publishers, the company has seen early success, expanding from Australia to Mumbai, Singapore and London.
Its exponential growth has resulted in new client wins including Uber Eats for a major research and insights program to inform their gaming strategy, as well as Foxtel Group’s Binge, and Warner Music Australia.
The funding will enable the business to better leverage interest from advertisers and gaming companies globally via accelerated headcount, entry into new markets and further development of proprietary gametech platforms.
The round was led by cornerstone investor RealVC, and includes participation from Perennial Private Ventures, Alua, co-founder of Hills Cider Company Toby Kline, founding regional president of EA Asia Pacific, Nigel Sandiford and strategic investors within the gaming ecosystem.
The round was oversubscribed, recognising Livewire’s attractive business model and material revenue traction since launch, and sees RealVC’s managing partner Matt Berriman join the Board, and Ryan Sohn from Perennial Partners as an investor.
Livewire co-founders and co-CEOs, Brad Manuel and Indy Khabra, started Livewire to focus on the whitespace within the gaming marketing and tech ecosystem. Globally, the gaming audience is 3 billion unique users per day, yet Manuel and Khabra had identified most brands were struggling to engage a generation passionate about gaming through authentic channels with a considered, long-term strategy.
Having built a proposition that sought to address this lack of strategic support backed by what the company is coining ‘gametech’ tooling, Livewire now works with multinational global advertising agencies and brands to deliver compelling gaming marketing solutions.
Khabra and Manuel said: “We’re excited for this next phase. Our Series A funding round will enable Livewire to scale up and invest in our gametech products, talent, and our business operations.
“We’re adding new skills and staff to continue to drive growth within the gaming marketing sector with our unique offering. Sitting horizontal across the entire gaming ecosystem, Livewire provides advertisers a single-entry point to the entire spectrum of gaming marketing possibilities. Our capabilities cover strategy, creative, content and media.
“We welcome RealVC, Perennial Partners and our strategic investors to Livewire, enabling us to open new markets and triple our staff by February 2023. Livewire reaches a global gaming audience of 3 billion+ players, who are passionate about video games and have made it a core part of modern-day culture.”
The unique combination of experience wielded by Manuel and Khabra has also secured exclusive partnerships across ANZ and APAC for in-game advertising media, equating to over 55 billion impressions across the Livewire Ad Marketplace.
This includes Activision Blizzard Media (Candy Crush), AudioMob, the Top 200 games and experiences within Roblox and exclusive APAC programmatic AAA advertising within Xbox and PlayStation games.
