Newcastle-based esports jobs platform launches crowdfunding campaign

A job platform for the esports jobs market, Newcastle-based Hitmarker has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to support expansion into the wider video game industry.

All capital raised will be used to create a centralised hub for jobs of all kinds in the video game industry.

The investment round, now live on crowdcube.com, has a minimum target of £80,000, offered in return for 4 per cent of equity, and a maximum target of £200,000 for a 10 per cent stake in the business.

During the early access phase, the company has already raised £32,000, 40 per cent of its minimum target.

Interested parties are invited to visit Hitmarker’s pitch page to access its business plan and financial documents.

With more than 33,000 registered users and 2300 hiring companies using the site, Hitmarker is fast becoming a leader in esports jobs.

The company is not set on widening its offering to the entire video game industry, with a view to becoming the centralised location of gaming jobs.

Analytics company Newzoo predicts that the video game industry will generate $152 billion (£118 billion) in revenues in 2019, meaning that thousands of new jobs will be coming up all of the time.

Richard Huggan, managing director of Hitmarker, commented: “Despite being much more mature, the video game jobs market is in a surprisingly similar position to that of the esports jobs market before we launched.

“Job listings are spread across various endemic and non-endemic websites and are still very prominent on social media. There is a great need for one centralised location that candidates can use to safely apply for jobs and companies can rely on to hire exceptional staff.

“We believe that this is the perfect time for us to crowdfund to realise this vision. “We’ve been profitable for the past three months, already dominate the esports market, a fast-growing subsection of the wider video game industry, and firmly believe we can extrapolate our successful approach to become the gateway into this enormous industry for candidates and companies all over the globe.

Hitmarker will use capital raised in this round of crowdfunding to double its full-time team, improve the feature set for companies hiring on the platform, aggregate all English-speaking video gaming jobs on its site and more aggressively market the company’s services to a global audience.

Richard added: “Video games are the largest entertainment vertical in the world and the opportunity in front of us is huge.”