Liquid's parent company secures a further $21.5 million in funding
The parent company of Liquid, aXiomatic, have recently filed with the SEC that they have acquired $21.5 million in new funding.
The identity of the investors is currently unknown, with aXiomatic declining to formally announce the funding as of yet. According to the filing, a further $3.5 million is still being sought. This is the latest funding round for aXiomatic, having previously secured $26 million of funding in October which featured Michael Jordan as one of the lead investors. This investment came after $25 million was raised in April of last year.
A number of big names from the world of traditional sports, mostly professional basketball, have invested in aXiomatic, including Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA's Washington Wizards, Peter Guber and Bruce Karsh, co-owners of the Golden State Warriors and Jeff Vinik, owner of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. Former NBA player Magic Johnson is also a member of the ownership team.
Liquid are the latest esports team to have received investment this year, with Texas-based Envy having acquired $20 million in funding in January. This is alongside the likes of Cloud9, OpTic and 100 Thieves as US-based organizations to have received a sizeable amount of funding in the recent months.
On the competitive front, Liquid have had a strong start to 2019. Having won at iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 in January, they followed it up with a top eight finish at the IEM Katowice Major. SInce then, they have finished second at two BLAST Pro Series events in a row, Sao Paulo and Miami, and finished top of their ESL Pro League group last week.
Liquid are next set to be in action at the end of this month as they head to Australia for IEM Sydney, with cs_summit 4 and DreamHack Masters Dallas following in May.
Alongside Liquid, aXiomatic also has investments in Epic Games, developers of the Battle Royale title Fortnite, esports crowdfunding platform Matcherino, and tournament operator Super League Gaming. The group is also part of the Jens Hilger-led BITKRAFT Esports Seed Fund.
