Ampverse to invest over US$1.7m into Philippines expansion

Singapore-based esports company Ampverse has launched in the Philippines, marking its fifth market after launching in Thailand, India and Vietnam. Along with the expansion, Ampverse will also be investing over US$1.7 million, acquired from the US$12 million in its recent Series A fundraise, into the Philippines to strengthen the local gaming and esports ecosystem with a core focus on four pillars - esports, talent, commerce, and Web3.

The esports company has also made its move to sign a local amateur Mobile Legends team (pictured above) that has won 11 back-to-back championships. The team will play under the newly formed Minana brand, which was created with ambitions to become the leading youth lifestyle brand in the country.

Translated as “inheritance”, Minana represents the belief that “excellence inherited” passes from generation to generation and everyone has the ability to achieve greatness in their chosen field, regardless of their background or socioeconomic standing. Minana’s vision is to ignite passion in every Filipino youth, with the core principle that “greatness is in their blood”. Through the introduction of the Minana brand, Ampverse aims to build Minana into a true Pinoy lifestyle and gaming brand.

Leading the Minana brand is Julius Raymon (Banoobs) Ual Mariano who has been appointed as regional expansion manager for Ampverse as the inaugural employee-in-market. Raymon is tasked with strengthening the Ampverse team on the ground in the Philippines as he spearheads the brand’s in-market expansion. He will be followed by a number of new hires in the coming months across esports, sales, marketing, operations and web3. Having previously worked for Twitch Philippines as country manager, Raymon is a Filipino gaming executive and streamer himself with over 100,000 social media followers. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Ampverse for additional information.

“The gaming scene in the Philippines is flourishing; over the past several years, we have witnessed incredible developments and the landscape is now ripe for further growth and success,” said Ferdinand Gutierrez, CEO of Ampverse. “As a Filipino myself, I’m excited to go back to my roots and build something special in this thriving market. My mission is to grow the Filipino gaming ecosystem to world-class status.”

Raymon said: “Matthias Meti Beyer (co-founder and chief gaming officer of Ampverse) and I helped establish and grow the gaming scene in the Philippines nearly a decade ago at Twitch, so it's a dream to be working together again with our common aim to innovate and build the foundations for the next decade of Filipino gaming,”

The company first bagged its pre-Series A round in 2020 which the esports company said that it will use the capital to drive further regional expansion across Southeast Asia, supported by a 100% headcount increase over the next 12 months, and a programme of M&A investments across local markets. Ampverse also reported that it saw a 150% year-on-year revenue growth from H1 2019 to H1 2020. Continuing its growth across the region, Ampverse is primed to launch in Indonesia in late 2022.

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