Changing the game: GOALS scores $20m to reshape the future of football gaming

We’re delighted to announce that our portfolio company GOALS has just closed a $20m Series A. This round was led by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, with participation from Northzone, Cassius and ourselves – as well as a host of great angel investors. Having co-led their pre-seed round in 2021, we are continually impressed by the outstanding product development achieved by the team.

In light of this exciting milestone, we wanted to revisit our thoughts on the space and why we remain super bullish on GOALS.

Football, if you hadn’t noticed, is a global obsession. And that extends into the digital world: 2.9 billion players, 720 million live-stream viewers and 490 million esports fans. GOALS wants to tap into – and expand – this market, and give football the game it deserves.

The market is currently dominated by Electronic Arts’ (EA) FIFA series, which does $2.2bn in revenue, with 20 million players paying $60 a year. This represents 40% of EA’s total revenue. But it’s also stagnant, with bugs, latency issues and outdated gameplay. There is a hunger for something new.

GOALS is reimagining football gaming by focusing on gameplay, offering a free-to-play, cross-platform, multiplayer-focused and esports-ready experience. This not only makes their potential market much larger, by making the game accessible to a broad section of players, but it also positions GOALS to establish one of the most powerful community-driven platforms, carving out new territory for gaming, community and creativity in the digital world.

It aligns with our core belief in developing games with community and competition at their core, with an emergent economy developing out of it. Players can design, own and freely trade their own digital assets, such as shirts, boots and arenas, so they can create, play and earn together in one place. GOALS is redefining sports gaming for the next generation and unlocking the creator economy for a wider audience.

Behind this innovation stands an exceptional team. Founder and CEO – and former Counter Strike World Champion – Andreas Thorstensson is regarded as one of the most influential pioneers in esports, helping to establish standards for player management and gaming communities, as well as a serial founder and investor. He’s joined by a wealth of talent from the worlds of esports, game design and tech.

Currently in pre-alpha, they’re busy building out their team to make the beautiful game a little more so. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them as they forge a new era in sports gaming.

Join the GOALS community on Discord and sign up for a chance to be an early playtester.