Thailand-headquartered metaverse developer Translucia has acquired a majority stake in the local eSports arena Infofed, which is backed by Japanese seed-stage investor KK Fund, for $20 million in a joint venture deal, according to a source familiar with the development.
The transaction marks KK Fund’s second exit in Thailand following Eventpop in 2021, KK Fund general partner and founder Koichi Saito said in a LinkedIn post.
Translucia, a virtual world platform of T&B Media Global run by members of Thailand’s Chearavanont business family, is injecting an undisclosed sum into the eSports startup through its subsidiary Translucia Ventures.
The duo plans to set up an eSports boot camp to enable Thailand to become a regional hub for eSports. It is also looking to develop eSports content for Translucia’s metaverse – which Infofed will be integrated into.
T&B Media Global CEO and Translucia founder Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp said in a press release that the firm has been seeking opportunities to participate in developing Thai startups with growth potential. The investment is a critical part of its strategy to build an eSports community in its metaverse and serve target users in Generation Z, people born in the mid-to-late 90s, and its subsequent generation Alpha, he added.
“This partnership between Translucia and Infofed has the joint goal of bringing eSports to the Metaverse fully and adding value to the games industry,” Ahriyavraromp noted.
In February 2019, Infofed bagged an undisclosed amount of capital from KK Fund and Bangkok-based event management startup Event Pop in seed funding. The startup secured funds from GameWith, a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed game review website, in November of that same year as part of its pre-Series A round.
Translucia was launched by T&B Media and Thailand’s property developer Magnolia Quality Development Corporation last year with plans to invest 10 billion baht ($261 million) in virtual reality.
The latest news comes just a week after the media giant announced that it is targeting to raise over $300 million for Translucia through a hybrid equity-NFT (non-fungible token) fund structure in partnership with Sygnum, a Singapore- and Switzerland-based digital asset bank.