British Esports, in partnership with Sunderland Software City (SSC), has announced that 14 startups have been accepted on to a new esports accelerator programme designed to drive the growth of the gaming sector and create jobs in Sunderland.
Supported by Sunderland City Council, British Esports and leading tech sector support organisation SSC have designed the programme to present a unique opportunity for budding companies in the field of esports to benefit from leading industry experts.
Spanning eight weeks, the programme covers a range of topics designed to accelerate the growth of businesses in the esports sector. Participants will not only benefit from the expertise of Sunderland’s world-leading tech partners but will also gain invaluable knowledge in financial management, international expansion in esports, digital marketing, protecting intellectual property and investment readiness.
The programme will take place at the National Esports Performance Campus in Sunderland and blends in-person and online sessions. The accelerator will conclude on November 1 when founders can pitch to potential investors for funding.
The chosen 14 faced tough competition for places, with more than 100 applications submitted. The companies were chosen by a panel of leading tech experts including David Dunn and Hekla Goodman-Parker both of SSC and Dave Martin of British Esports. Collectively they assessed the viability of the idea, size of market opportunity, team expertise and product market fit.
One tech startup to land a place is Gamlytics, a US-based esports analytics platform that has raised $210,000 in its pre-seed investment round backed by venture capital firm Satori Giants. The team hopes the accelerator will provide a gateway to their ambitions of breaking into the European esports market.
Casino Apte, co-founder at Gamlytics, said: “We’re incredibly excited to join Sunderland Software City’s accelerator programme in partnership with British Esports.
“The opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading esports ecosystems, alongside receiving vital tech resources and developer guidance from Sunderland Software City, is an incredible opportunity for us.
“We’re passionate about creating tools that help nations and schools develop esports, and we can’t wait to bring our platform from the US to the UK and support its thriving esports landscape.”
Hekla Goodman Parker, head of tech startups at Sunderland Software City, said: “We’re excited about the esports accelerator’s first cohort of tech startups creating groundbreaking technology for the industry.
“This is an ambitious group of founders and we have the fantastic opportunity to help them scale by connecting the businesses straight into industry players, thanks to our partnership with British Esports and Sunderland City Council.’’
‘’This will be the first of many accelerators we’ll offer over the coming year as we focus primarily on growing the North East tech sector and bringing investment into the region.”
Sunderland City Council chief executive Patrick Melia OBE said: ‘’Our city-wide investment in next-generation infrastructure, combined with our investment and support for this accelerator, underscores Sunderland’s growing reputation as a forward-thinking smart city.
“The innovative businesses taking part in this programme are a testament to our technical proficiency, strong partnerships, and city-wide digital transformation.
‘’We’ll watch the progress of these businesses with interest and hope to attract some of these businesses and other similar companies to Sunderland longer-term to be part of our growing and ambitious city.”
Dave Martin, senior vice-president at Esports, said: “We’re building a partnership with Sunderland Software City and Sunderland City Council to help us achieve our mission of helping to grow a thriving UK’s esports ecosystem. We aim to bring together talent, investment and innovation and set them on a path to success creating more jobs and innovations that are world-leading.”
The first cohort consists of Beam XR, BSL AR Teacher, DS Performance Sport, ESG Gaming, Convergent Live, Good Game Truro, Gamlytics, Versus, HD Games, Immerzion Development, Nexus Interactive, Racing Sims North East, Smash Mountain Studio and Reset Reload.
This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
