This week in esports: Will Smith, Meyers Leonard, SK Telecom, Caffeine

This week in esports has seen one of the biggest celebrities in the world invest in an organisation and a new broadcasting platform get in on a series of popular CS:GO and Dota 2 events. We’ve rounded up the biggest, best, and most surprises stories from the past week.

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Will Smith invests as Gen.G announce $46m funding round

Esports organisation Gen.G received $46 million (£35 million) in investment from Dreamers Fund, the venture capital firm owned by actor Will Smith and football player Keisuke Honda.

Also including contributions from Dennis Wong, Michael Zeisser, and David Rogier, the capital raised from the round will support Gen.G’s efforts of growing its global footprint and developing its youth esports academy program.

Read the full article here.

FaZe Clan receives investment from Meyers Leonard

North American organisation FaZe Clan received investment from professional basketball player Meyers Leonard.

Leonard, who competes for NBA side Portland Trail Blazers, showed off custom, FaZe Clan-branded trainers during a match in early April to tease his involvement. He will collaborate on content with the organisation later in 2019.

Read the full article here.

SK Telecom partners with Riot Games Korea to broadcast LCK and more

South Korean broadcast SK Telecom partnered with Riot Games Korea to become the broadcast sponsor of Korean league LCK through 2020.

As a result, SK Telecom’s 5G brand 5GX will be promoted through future broadcasts and in-person activations. The deal also includes the Korean broadcast rights for the LoL World Championship, Mid-Season Invitational, and All-Star event.

Read the full article here.

DreamHack enters global streaming partnership with Caffeine

Tournament organiser DreamHack entered a non-exclusive global streaming partnership with social broadcasting platform Caffeine.

The deal will see all Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 events from DreamHack throughout 2019. It will also broadcast a new show titled ‘Overtime’, which will be debuted at DreamHack Open Rio on April 19th-21st.

Read the full article here.

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