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Razer<\/a>, the gaming company that\u00a0acquired the Robin smartphone maker Nextbit<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year, is now opening the curtains on the\u00a0next steps to make\u00a0a deeper move into the mobile space. Razer has announced a strategic partnership<\/a> with Three<\/a>, the Hong Kong-based mobile phone carrier owned by Hutchison Whampoa, in which the companies\u00a0will sell co-branded, gaming-centric handsets and phone plans and open a new retail store in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n The deal is, in fact, part investment and part sales and marketing strategy: Li Ka-Shing, the magnate behind Hutchison and Three, is also taking a stake in Razer through his VC firm Horizons Ventures, according to Razer\u2019s CEO Min-Liang Tan.<\/p>\n He declined to tell us the financial terms of Horizons Ventures\u2019\u00a0investment. (We have asked others at the\u00a0company and other sources and will update as we learn more.)<\/p>\n This is the latest chapter in how Razer has been trying to transform itself en route to a public listing or whatever the next stage of its company life might be. Starting first as a maker of peripherals like mouses and keyboards for hardcore gaming enthusiasts, Razer has in more recent years been building out its business\u00a0(its motto, however, remains: \u201cFor Gamers. By Gamers.\u201d). The company in recent years has expanded\u00a0not just into\u00a0PCs<\/a>, but VR, wearables, social networks\u00a0for gamers to communicate with each other and new immersive technology<\/a> for delivering gaming experiences.<\/p>\n To date, Razer has disclosed around $125 million of investment<\/a>, but it has publicly confirmed that it has raised more. Sources told us in 2014<\/a>\u00a0that Razer was valued at $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear when Horizons Ventures invested in Razer \u2014 specifically, whether\u00a0it was part a past\u00a0round and\u00a0is\u00a0only now being made public, or whether its involvement is something more recent.\u00a0Other investors to date, besides Horizons Ventures, include\u00a0Accel, IDG, Temasek\u2019s Heliconia Capital Management and China\u2019s LianLuo.<\/p>\n Horizons Ventures is a prolific investor<\/a> that has been a backer of dozens of tech startups, including Slack and Airbnb, but also a bunch of companies that have obvious synergies with Razer and its consumer electronics\/gaming focus, including VR animation company Baobab Studios<\/a> and, just last week, Improbable<\/a>, which has developed a platform to build immersive virtual worlds for games (and other applications).<\/p>\n Razer has been involved with\u00a0Horizons Ventures\u00a0in the last several months on the investing front, too. The two paired up in\u00a0a $15 million\u00a0round for fitness drink maker Celsius<\/a>\u00a0in March, via Razer\u2019s zVentures<\/a> investment fund. (The connection here appears to be\u00a0that fitness drinks\u00a0have strong\u00a0synergy and branding potential with e-sports and other gaming events.)<\/p>\n Turning to the carrier partnership, Three has operations in 11 markets in Europe and Asia \u2014 Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Macau, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom and Vietnam \u2014 and had ambitions to expand its business\u00a0by buying O2 in the U.K., but the deal got scuppered<\/a> by regulators. So a partnership with Razer gives it a route to growing its customer base in other ways.<\/p>\n Specifically, here Three is hoping to woo more customers in their markets who are interested in gaming. They will design handsets and tariffs \u201cspecifically for the gaming community\u201d \u2014 say, by reducing or removing data charges for Razer gaming content, or maybe even boosting data connectivity for those who are playing games on the network \u2014 and provide them with deals on zGold virtual currency to play Razer\u00a0games.<\/p>\n Interestingly, while Razer didn\u2019t say\u00a0how it planned to use the technology and expertise from Nextbit when it announced the acquisition, this gives us a more specific idea of how it will be used: to develop gaming-first handsets optimised for gaming experience.<\/p>\n The opportunity is a sizeable one. Razer estimates that there were 2 billion gamers globally in 2015, projected to rise to 2.8 billion by 2018; and smartphone games generate\u00a0$27 billion in revenues in the $100 billion gaming market.<\/p>\n Part of that has also been fueled by large e-sports gaming events \u2014 a medium that Razer is also looking to cultivate \u2014 which racked up 6 billion hours of gameplay time in 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cRazer is the world\u2019s leading lifestyle brand for gamers and reaches billions of gamers globally. In addition, we\u2019re pioneers in esports \u2013 one of the most exciting media platforms in recent years,\u201d said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer, in a statement. \u201cWe are incredibly excited about joining forces with the 3 Group to bring our cutting-edge gamer lifestyle to their audiences. From co-branding to mobile and virtual currencies \u2013 we\u2019re excited to work with the 3 Group to reach out to the youth in their markets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a03 Group\u00a0has always embraced developing trends in the mobile sector, and mobile gaming and eSports are definitely on the rise,\u201d said Susan Buttsworth, CEO of 3 International Opportunities Development, in a statement. \u201c3\u2019s partnership with Razer underscores our commitment to customers who are casual fans as well as those who are avid gamers of mobile eSports.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Jon Russell.<\/em><\/p>\n Featured Image: jonrussell<\/a>\/Flickr<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/11\/photo-20-11-2015-15-29-46.jpg?w=680\")
Razer, the gaming company that acquired the Robin smartphone maker Nextbit earlier this year, is now opening the curtains on the next steps to make a deeper move into the mobile space. Razer has announced a strategic partnership with Three, the Hong Kong-based mobile phone carrier owned by Hutchison Whampoa. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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