Strafe raises $3M in seed funding round

Mobile application Strafe has raised $3 million (£2.4 million) through its seed funding round.

The round was led by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, an early and mid-stage investor and incubator that’s also invested in the likes of apparel brand H4X, digital card trader Epics.gg, and esports nutrition company Runtime.

Einar Ahlström, CEO and Co-founder of Strafe discussed the round in a release: “We are extremely excited to welcome BITKRAFT Esports Ventures as an investor in Strafe. BITKRAFT is the leading esports VC in the world and they bring much more than just capital to the table. They are deeply connected with all main entities within the esports community and will help propel our business as we execute on our game plan going forward.”

Described as an esports companion mobile application, Strafe contains match schedules with live results, the “widest tournament coverage on mobile”, and match statistics. It aggregates news and data from League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, and other top titles.

Malte Barth, Founder Partner of BITKRAFT Esports Ventures added: “Strafe is unlike any app currently on the esports market with extremely high user retention and organic growth and an impressive executive team including Marcus Jacobs, the former director of King’s popular mobile game Candy Crush, who is working to tap into the vast potential of social betting in esports. We are excited to back an incredible entrepreneurial team from the developing esports and gaming ecosystem in the Nordics that provides more structure to the esports competitive landscape and additional entertainment value to the esports community.”

Esports Insider says: We’re intrigued to see how Strafe plans to put this capital to use, whether that be to expand its coverage or something entirely different is yet to be disclosed. BITKRAFT is well-experienced in both investing and advising so this is a good move for Strafe.

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