Hicham Chahine, founder and CEO of the newly public NIP Group (NASDAQ:NIPG), joined Benzinga's PreMarket Prep on Wednesday to discuss his company and the gaming industry's future.
It was a big week for esports. NIP Group, whose acronym is derived from its "Ninjas in Pyjamas" esports teams, went public on July 26.
On July 23, the International Olympic Committee announced the creation of the Olympic Esports Games in 2025. Also, the Esports World Cup is currently in competition.
"For the industry, it's extremely exciting," Chahine said. "For our company, it's also a new chapter — a new journey that we're embarking on. It's great to have the Olympics coming in... to drive that momentum that we've built our company up around."
NIP Group is the first esports company to list on Nasdaq.
"When we look at the esports landscape, you have an industry which has been niched, niched in terms of if you look at the landscape our competitors [are] fragmented," Chahine said. "What we felt with our IPO and taking the company public is we've created a global giant in terms of what is not seen, in terms of verticals, diversification, scale of footprints and operations from Europe, to China, to the Middle East, to South America."
"I would say that looking at our company and how it sits in terms of where the space is going, it's something that hasn't really been seen before. We're plowing uncharted waters," he added.
Chahine is encouraged about the future of competitive gaming. He noted that early esports fans of the 2000s are having children who are "digitally native" and equally excited about competitive gaming. The founder and CEO sees esports' momentum continuing as younger demographics become increasingly interested in the digital space.
Chahine said that NIP Group does not have easily comparable peers due to the breadth of its business operations. The company has revenue segments in esports competition, physical merchandise, ticketing and talent management. It also is diversified by geography across the world.
Chahine noted that people are more interested now in video games than ever and that momentum is on NIP Group's side as the industry grows.
"It's [the esports industry] already massive, and combined, it's already exceeding music and film as an industry."
Price Action: Hoping to raise $20 million, NIPG was listed at $9, selling 2.25 million depository shares. It shot up over 80% to trade at $16.50 on Monday before subsiding to $11.24 at the time of writing.
The Swedish-based company's market capitalization is over $600 million according to Benzinga Pro.
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