XSET Completes $15M Series A Funding Led by LightWork Worldwide to Continue Their Growth as a Leading Gaming Lifestyle Brand

XSET, the first gaming brand launched with a focus on diversity and culture, celebrates its two-year anniversary with the opening of their west coast office, gaming and content studio in Compton, CA  

BOSTON, July 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- XSET, the world's fastest-growing gaming and lifestyle organization, announced today it has closed a $15 million Series A funding round. The capital will be used to invest in new executive talent, marketing, and content creation. The funding is led by LightWork Worldwide llc, a global streetwear and lifestyle brand holding company, incubator and fund who has recently backed social media livestream commerce app Ezze as well as streetwear brands such as 424, Round Two, Pyschworld, No Vacancy Inn and Supervsn in the bid to take them global with a spotlight on key Asian markets such as China.

"The gaming lifestyle market has tremendous potential globally and we see XSET as the next big youth culture brand driven by a top notch team. Not only do they have many differentiating qualities from their competitors, they also completely align in terms of our strategic vision towards creating a formidable lifestyle brand that transcends markets," said Edward Zhou, Chairman of LightWork Worldwide. "We are excited to partner with XSET as they continue to build a bridge between gaming, fashion and lifestyle. This will be a key strategic alliance as we will be actively engaging with the executive team to drive new revenue streams and to tap our strength and resources in investments, sourcing, development, licensing and stores activations as they continue to build what we have no doubt is going to become Gen Z's defining gaming lifestyle brand."

Other investors in this round with XSET include Alpha Sigma Capital, Apex Capital Partners, Baron Davis Enterprises, Breakaway Ventures, Concept Art House, Gaingels, Gee Roberson Management, GuildFi, Quality Control, TheAlliance, Swae Lee, Mind Melt Media, Whitwell & Co, Worldwide Wes, Young Money, and six NFL athletes: Ezekiel Elliott, Justin Simons, Adrian Colbert, Alkho Witherspoon, Ndamukong Suh, and Kyle Van Noy.

Celebrating its 2nd anniversary this month, XSET CEO Greg Selkoe credits their success in securing this round despite a challenging economic environment to the company's focus on fundamentals and key milestones including: building nearly 130M followers in aggregate across its social channels, signings with Ozuna, Swae Lee, Tee Grizzley, and Ezekial Elliot, opening gaming cabanas as Drai's Nightclub in Las Vegas, securing partnerships with HyperX, SCUF Gaming, Interscope and Mavix, winning "Merch Collab of the Year" at the Tempest Awards, and building eight competitive esports teams at the top of their respective games.

"XSET's approach from the beginning has been to build a revenue and profit focused brand while still leaning into our values of diversity and inclusion," said Selkoe. "We are leveraging our amazing team's unrivaled experience in building content, fashion, music, gaming and lifestyle allowing XSET to scale but for a fraction of the spend as our competitors."

Selkoe added, "XSET is going to be the dominant brand in gaming lifestyle, and we believe we can grow something massive without burning huge amounts of capital or compromising our values. We do this by being authentic and showing up everyday to innovate and providing value across everything our fans love from gaming to streetwear. We will always put the XSET fans first."

Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder Wil Eddins added, "As XSET enters our third year, we will be putting heavy focus into ramping up our apparel drops and content strategy."  He concluded with, "the sauces and style we are about to bring to gaming is going to be totally different, watch."

XSET also opened a west coast office in Compton, CA (just south of downtown Los Angeles) within LightWorks Worldwide's 45,000-square foot space that will serve as a home for corporate offices, training facility for its esports teams, and studio for content creation. The new facility will be open for public events to make gaming more accessible.

One of its flagship teams, XSET Valorant, recently beat FaZe Clan and Optic at the VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers Grand Final to become the North American Champions. The win secured XSET the number one seed at Masters Copenhagen on July 10-24 and marks its first international LAN appearance. XSET's seed placement for Masters Copenhagen has also qualified the team for Valorant Champions in Istanbul, the biggest and final Valorant tournament of the year on September 2-18.

Founded in 2020 in Boston by gaming and pop culture veterans Greg Selkoe, Marco Mereu, Clinton Sparks and Wil Eddins, XSET is the fastest growing gaming organization and lifestyle brand in history. XSET fields some of the world's top competitive esports teams in titles including Valorant, Rocket League, Rainbow Six, Fortnite, Warzone, Apex Legends, eNASCAR and more. Built on a foundation of a diverse and inclusive gaming culture, XSET is building the preeminent brand for today's growing Gen Z audience of gamers. The organization continues to grow at a breakneck pace, partnering with high-profile brands such as Ghost Lifestyle, SCUF Gaming, Roots Canada, HyperX, Quality Control Music, Respawn, Fanshark and Wahlburgers and is working with socially positive causes including Big Brother Big Sister of America. Since its launch, XSET has attracted top-tier, world famous talent across music, sports and entertainment to its shared vision, including Grammy-nominated hip-hop artists Swae Lee and Ozuna, NFL superstar Ezekiel Elliot, BMX legend Nigel Sylvester, Rapper and GTA streamer Tee Grizzley, 14-year-old female Olympic skateboarding phenom Minna Stess, and professional athletes such as NFL star Ezekiel Elliot of the Dallas Cowboys. Sitting at the intersection of gaming and culture, XSET's robust merchandise offerings are some of the most sought-after in the industry, featuring high-profile collaborations and exclusive pieces fans can't find anywhere else. XSET is defining what it means to be cultural leaders in the space for future generations to come. For more information visit XSET.com #reptheset

SOURCE XSET