MUMBAI: French esport organization Team Vitality has confirmed plans to expand into India Monday via a post on their new country specific Instagram handle.
It was in December 2019 that the organisation’s chief marketing officer Florent Gutierrez had first indicated to popular Indian YouTuber Rawknee about their plans to enter the Indian market.
Team Vitality is a leading French esports club, which was founded in August 2013 by Fabien Devide and Nicolas Maurer. It has had a strong presence in CS GO, F1, FIFA, Fortnite Battle Royale, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG, Rainbow Six Seige, Rocket League, and Street Fighter 5.
It was in November 2019 that Rewired.GG, the $55.16 million esports venture fund that invests in the global growth of esports, announced it had invested a further $15.45m into Team Vitality, taking its total investment till that date to $37.51m.
At the time it was stated that the funds would be used to support the continued growth of Team Vitality “as the team pursues expansion across India, where it will be acquiring new players and launching a network of esports academies”.
“In 2013 we started Team Vitality at $11032.2. Today Team Vitality has built amazing teams that regularly win tournaments all over the world, and a strong brand that is backed by our amazing and dedicated fans and our premium sponsors. Receiving further backing by Rewired.GG after the initial investment of €20M in November 2018 is a testament to the strength not only of the team but also a comment on the growth of the sector as a whole. This investment will go towards continuing to turn Team Vitality into a global esports brand and we look forward to providing further updates on our future wins as we continue to pursue V for Victory,” Team Vitality CEO, Nicolas Maurer said at the time.
Vitality isn’t the first international organization that is expanding operations to India. Established organisations such as Fnatic, TSM, Noblegg, and Nova Esports have all set up shop in India, after seeing massive growth in PUBG Mobile.
The recent PUBG Mobile World League East’s Hindi stream witnessed more than 400,000 viewers, which speaks volumes about it’s popularity.
A few weeks ago, the Indian government had banned PUBG Mobile in the country under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Sportskeeda reports that PUBG Mobile is currently eyeing for a relaunch in the December/January time frame, pointing to predictions made by professional players and influencers Kronten and Scout.
