Drake Joins Esports Organization 100 Thieves as Co-owner After Series A

In one of the more Madlibs style headlines one might read from the technology and gaming world, famous rapper Drake has led a Series A investment into the esports organization 100 Thieves, joined by fellow co-lead investor Scooter Braun, the founder of SB Projects and manager of singers Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. Braun and Drake will both serve as co-owners of the organization.

100 Thieves is a professional gaming organization founded by Matt Haag, otherwise known as Nadeshot. The company expanded from apparel to gaming last year and now has teams in League of Legends, Fortnite, and other widely-played titles.

The new funding round also included participation from Sequoia Capital, WondrCo, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, Drew Houston, Green Bay Ventures, Tao Capital and Willoughby Capital. Braun will join 100 Thieves board and serve as a mentor to the young Haag.

“With Matt’s experience, talent, and vision as a professional gamer he and his team have built one of the most authentic brands in the ever-evolving gaming space,” Braun said. “We are honored to join the 100 Thieves family during this exciting phase of their professional journey. I personally could not be more thrilled for 100 Thieves. This is just the beginning.”

What attracted the two new co-owners was not only 100 Thieves penchant for gaming, but their expertise in other fields as well. The company’s first four apparel drops all sold out within 20 minutes, and they handle all production in-house, serving as one large organization capable of creating merch and branding from the ground up.

“It’s been exciting to watch esports become a cultural phenomenon in 2018. I’ve spent my ten-year career in esports growing the ecosystem and am proud to have Drake and Scooter join as my partners to help take 100 Thieves to new heights. Our top priority is to win world championships, but our ambitions go far beyond competitive gaming,” said Haag. “With Drake and Scooter’s support, we’re going to build a lasting brand on the back of the content and apparel that our fans have come to love, aggressively expand into more games, scale our apparel business, and build a world-class management team.”