INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports

In February 2019, a mere conversation that I had with a JCSU athletics administrator about the paucity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that possessed structured on-campus esports programming became the impetus behind my development of a proposal later that day for an esports and gaming academic program. The...

GIA STORY“What if learning felt like a game?” This initial question was actually the starting point for the Games Institute. When Thomas Kunze stumbled over the topic of Game Based Learning in 2010, it was a question that never really left his thoughts again. Learning, especially in a digital world,...

METRO IS A MULTICULTURAL ESPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION AGENCY, CREATING AND PRODUCING DIGITAL, SOCIAL, MOBILE AND LIVE EVENTS DESIGNED TO ATTRACT, ENGAGE AND UPLIFT A BROAD AND DIVERSE AUDIENCE OF GAMING AND TECHNOLOGY ENTHUSIASTS. A college football player, I don’t come from the world of esports as I only understood...

HeliconNFT is a new online universe, combining a gaming metaverse with a NFT buying & trading platform that provides real rewards where you can play, mine and earn to become the master of a new market. Ultimately, HeliconNFT bridges the gap between centralised games and decentralized NFTs for a true...

Our after-school league coalesces in-game coaching with STEAM instruction into a dynamic, engaging program for organizations, schools and school districts. We’re in the business of building vibrant esports communities with the goal of being the highlight of our students’ days. We believe in recognizing abilities that have (for far too...

Livewire is a global gaming marketing and gametech company that leads major brands and agencies into the gaming ecosystem. We create bespoke gaming strategies based on proprietary research and knowledge that build authentic and culturally relevant brand positions within the gaming audience and deliver results that build brands fame and...

GamerSafer’s mission is to scale safety and fair play experiences to millions of players worldwide. Fraud, crime, and toxicity are present in many online interactions, compromising user experience, lifetime value and engagement. The co-founders of GamerSafer, a former executive from the gaming industry and a social impact entrepreneur, both gamers...

Twinzo was founded in 2020 as a spin-off from INFOTECH. Twinzo fully integrated INFOTECH’s 20 years of experience and know-how associated with the development of custom software solutions, from over more than 30 professional team members. Twinzo is at the same time the name of the company as well as...

But Newzoo wasn’t its founder’s (Peter Warman and Thijs Hagoort) first venture into the world of business. Far from it. After becoming friends playing basketball in high school, the industrious duo sold custom-designed t-shirts. Those early days taught them a valuable lesson: custom production based on manuals does not scale...

WHAT INSPIRED THE CREATION OF DRONE CADETS? In 2016 Sgt. Tony Reid, was a corrections officer at Rikers Island, a jail in New York City, working with incarcerated adolescents 16 to 18 years old. For 8 long years, he witnessed first-hand the plight of young men of color who became...

The Indie Cluster is a platform providing opportunities, resources, and services centered around supporting indie game developers. We focus on quality assurance testing, discoverability, hands-on production, and curating a traveling booth for our games. As our digital future demands more interactive experiences, sustainability is crucial for these small businesses. We’ve...

For Full Sail University, esports came naturally. Since the school has offered gaming degrees for over 25 years, it came as no surprise when esports culture became widespread among Full Sail’s students. The wildly popular degree programs have made gaming just as prevalent on campus as music or film. And...

MetArena provides an easy and positive way for communities and companies to engage using gaming and esports. Democratization and education are the driving forces behind our mission to provide the world with an opportunity to experience all the good games can bring. If you’re working in esports, one of the...

This is the story about a company with such potential, it could become a top 10 startup. A bold claim? Sure! Backed by facts? Stay tuned. It has adventure, love, death, and much, much more. It’s the story about a company with a concept so innovative, its creator accurately predicted...

We are Giiks Game City (GGC), a non-profit organization with the primary goal of organizing gaming events, TV content, creating and re- modify existing local and contemporary games, for a wider audience.  Video gaming, a subculture of E-Sports (Electronic Sports) is seeing rapid growth in Ghana. The ubiquity of PC...

Indie game developers are the heart and soul of the gaming industry, and without them, we wouldn’t have as much innovation as we currently have, and have been enjoying since Pong. With that said, indie game developers are always struggling to create their games because of various reasons, and this...

Nerd Street Gamers is a national esports infrastructure that puts accessibility, integrity and opportunity at the forefront of everything they do. As gaming communities slowly began to gain traction on a small scale, the CEO of Nerd Street Gamers and Localhost, John Fazio, knew that individuals nationwide would soon realize...

Starting as an esports talent agency in 2017, Gold Standard Gaming has become a full-service marketing company that caters to brands, influencers and corporations worldwide. The founder, Sebastian “Chosen1” Burton is a former professional gamer and spent many years as a consultant to some of the largest brands in the...

STEM Fuse is a developer of digital K-12 STEM and CTE curriculum and PD, working with 12,000+ schools across the country. We were founded in 2009 with the mission to help schools deliver engaging STEM programs to prepare students for the fastest growing career opportunities. The Founder, Carter Tatge, was...

Heidi is an entrepreneur and computer scientist who anticipates the needs of businesses and society as they’re transformed by digital technology. She earned her Master’s in Computer Science at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. She is constantly seeking the edge of change and where she finds it, she...

Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP’s (SGR) entertainment practice includes legal practitioners specializing in intellectual property protection, technology, corporate transactional, tax, and real estate matters. The Firm’s founders began practicing law more than 125 years ago to commit to excellence and attract a wide array of talent dedicated to serving our...

GAMING APPEALS TO OUR INNATE SENSE OF HUMANITY. IT INSPIRES CREATIVITY, PLAY, CONNECTIVITY, AND COMMUNITY These also happen to be the fundamentals of today’s video games. This wasn’t designed by accident, either. Playing video games empowers people no matter their backgrounds, religion, politics, race, gender or location. Sugar Gamers exemplify...

The global gaming market is forecast to worth $257 billion by 2025 and of the 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, 46% of them are women. The majority of these women experience hate and toxicity while gaming, simply for being women. In fact, in an effort to avoid harassment, 75% of women...

At Dreamcraft, we invest in European tech-driven companies from pre-seed to Series A. We are generalists with a proven track record in iGaming, gaming, esports, D2C, B2B SaaS, and decarbonization. We believe success is created by a team of dreamers and crafters – and we are venture engineers who help...