The 3 types of esports investor: sports teams, celebrities, and moguls

Over the last decade, esports have moved from being a niche gaming subculture to a phenomenon, with a global revenue that could break $1 billion by 2019. According to ESPN — whose president denied esports was a real sport back in 2014 — the first matches of this year’s Overwatch League had larger online audiences than Thursday Night Football streams, accounting to more than 10 million unique viewers on various platforms.

And naturally, as audiences expand esports is getting lots of attention from advertisers, and recognition from investors. A quick look over the team roster shows investors from a wide range of different backgrounds, such as software companies and to celebrities.