KK Fund, a venture capital fund investing in seed stage Internet and mobile startups across Southeast Asia, today announced it would be launching the eSports X Business Asia Summit (“EXB Asia Summit”) that is focused on the business aspect in partnership with Thai eSports startup Infofed and global media agency dentsu X.

Held on 21-22 April 2021, the EXB Asia Summit aims to accelerate growth of the Asian eSports ecosystem by virtually bringing all stakeholders together to examine the latest industry trends, provide education for endemic and non-endemic brands, network with industry peers and unlock brand sponsorship opportunities. The event will be broadcasted through DealRoom and EXB Asia’s social media channels. Key highlights include online seminar sessions, business matching events, startup pitching sessions and a full eSports tournament for brands.

“Asia has the world’s largest audience of eSports players and fans and has generated nearly half of all global eSports revenue thus far. Though there is significant growth potential, the eSports industry in the region is still young. The summit is therefore a concerted effort to kickstart better collaboration, communication and education to further develop the ecosystem,” said Koichi Saito, Founder and General Partner of KK Fund. 

Participating in the summit are major game publishers, game developers, media and broadcasting platforms, eSports associations, government agencies, eSport businesses and tech brands. They include renowned industry names such as Tencent Games, SEGA, Garena, ONE Esports and Razer. Government agencies such as the Thailand E-Sports Federation, the Singapore Esports Association and the Japan eSports Union will also be present.

Over both days, guest speakers from within and outside the eSports industry will deliver seminar sessions on topics such as in-game monetisation, eSports sponsorships and mapping brand positioning with professional eSports players. They will also examine case studies on the popularity of Korean eSports, how to effectively build an eSports ecosystem, and pioneering eSports sponsorships through gaming gear collaborations.

These speakers include:

• Haruki Satomi, Chairman and CEO of SEGA Holdings Co
• Andrew Manugian, Head of Gaming Operations at Tencent Thailand
• Carlos Alimurung, CEO of ONE Esports
• Lance Quek, Founder of Gamerforce Ventures
• Chandra Firmanto, Founder of Indogen Capital
• Koichi Saito, Founder of KK Fund
• Yoshi Nakano, Partnership Director of Dentsu Tokyo
• Om Kaosa-ard, COO of Infofed

“We have a stellar lineup of partners and speakers for this landmark event and I look forward to helping them engage with the participants by exchanging valuable insights and forging new partnerships. Through the EXB Asia Summit, we believe we can drive greater awareness of eSports in Asia to help the industry realise its innate regional potential,” added Saito.

While the seminar and networking sessions span both days of the summit, single-day events include the startup pitching session on 21 April. Five selected eSports startups will have a chance to pitch their businesses to corporates, venture capitalists and government bodies across Asia to secure potential investment. Registration for the sessions begins from now until 2 April 2021 and more information can be found on the EXB Asia Summit website: https://www.exbasia.com/

“Our priority in organising the EXB Asia Summit is to address the high fragmentation and the lack of education about the eSports industry, both of which are affecting its growth in the region and beyond. The significant interest in eSports within and outside of the ecosystem must be met with more efforts to spread awareness, encourage collaboration and build a more robust infrastructure. We aim to continue our mission and efforts towards fostering eSports innovation and enhancing the community in Asia,” said Jirayod Theppipit, CEO of Infofed.

The climax of the second day of EXB Asia Summit will be the eSports corporate tournament finals. The tournament is designed to give brands a better understanding of the eSports ecosystem by demonstrating the tournament creation process and giving them hands-on experience via participation in the competition. The main broadcaster for the tournament finals will be eArena, but the event will also be broadcasted on various channels. Details can be found on the website.

“The eSports industry has the capacity to transform the digital experience and connect global audiences in an increasingly digitised world. We have consistently striven to raise the global profile of eSports and increase its credibility for sponsorship and marketing. We are confident that the EXB Asia Summit will help other stakeholders realise the new creative dimension that eSports brings to sports marketing and show them how they can best leverage it for maximum brand awareness,” said Kazuo Koike, Managing  Director of dentsu X Thailand.

The EXB Asia Summit is open for public participation with no registration fee. To learn more about the event or to register to participate, visit https://www.exbasia.com/