DN Capital et al. in €2m seed round for Dojo Madness

José Rojo
11 June 2015

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

German e-sports platform Dojo Madness has raised €2m in seed capital from DN Capital, London Venture Partners (LVP), March Capital Partners, 500 Startups, the Hive and business angels including Kristian Segerstrale.

According to market sources, the pool of investors secured a combined stake of less than 50% in the company.

Lead investor DN has yet to communicate the sum it deployed into Dojo Madness. The firm's third venture and growth capital fund typically targets €250,000-10m deals, however, with seed investments falling within the €250,000-500,000 bracket. According to market sources, the VC's contribution in this funding round lies closer to the upper end of that bracket.

Having held a €144m final close in September 2014, DN Capital GVC III drew commitments from around five main LPs, including Finnish Industry Investment and the European Investment Fund.

The vehicle was recently used by the VC in a €6m funding round for Belgian food delivery platform Take Eat Easy alongside Piton Capital and Rocket Internet, as well as a $7m series-A round into UK-headquartered brain-training platform Peak, both in April 2015.

The investment in Dojo Madness takes place shortly after the start-up launched Lolsumo, a coaching app offering guides and information to players of online game League of Legends. The company is now working on the release of Bruce.gg, a platform allowing competitive gamers to record their experience and receive guidance to improve their performance.

According to DN Capital, its interest in Dojo Madness stems from the untapped potential of the online gaming industry. In February 2015, the VC took part in a $1.2m seed round for Finnish game and software developer Shark Punch alongside LVP.

Company
Founded in 2014 by Turtle Entertainment's Jens Hilgers, among others, Dojo Madness is a start-up that develops apps and other technologies for gamers. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, the company currently employs around 10 staff.

People
Managing partner and founder Nenad Marovac led the deal for DN Capital, while London Venture Partners was represented by partner Paul Heydon. Jens Hilgers is CEO at Dojo Madness.