21 Jan eFuse expands senior team with Neil Duffy and Herb May appointments
Esports start-up eFuse has announced the appointment of former CSL Esports Chief Commercial Officer Neil Duffy as its Chief Revenue Officer, along with Herb May, formerly of the Houston Outlaws, as the firm’s new Director of Partnerships.
According to the release, the acquisition of Duffy is expected to help the firm multiply its esports events calendar, build ad inventory, and forge brand partnerships.
RELATED: CCO Neil Duffy announces his departure from CSL Esports
As previously noted, Duffy was previously a part of collegiate esports firm CSL Esports. For six years he was responsible for leading many of the company’s direct relationships with some of the sector’s biggest entities. These included Riot Games, EA Sports, TikTok, NBA, NFL, and General Mills, among others.
Speaking exclusively to Esports Insider, the new CRO spoke about his new venture: “I’m excited to get back into start-up mode with a great company culture, the eFuse team call it an elite mentality. My role is really ‘Chief Storyteller’ for the eFuse properties and our community. I’m excited to be able to go to brands with our fresh perspective of if you can dream it, we will build it.
“I think back to 2014 when collegiate esports barely existed. So we acquired a small business, put the right people in place, built the infrastructure and eventually sold it, but only after changing 100,000+ lives.”
eFuse looks to solve the problem of discovery in esports. The self-titled ‘LinkedIn for gamers’, the start-up looks to help provide amateur and college players with a platform to boost their chances of establishing a career in gaming. The platform is not only applicable for players wanting to go professional, with eFuse looking to garner people from to every aspect of the esports and gaming ecosystem.
Duffy added: “The discovery issue is one of the biggest I see in the industry, I want to contribute to solving it and we will need a lot of partners to do so; from students, teams, companies, leagues and publishers.”
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Also joining Duffy is May, who has spent the last few years working with entities such as the Houston Outlaws, Roundhill Investments and Axis Replay. The new Director of Partnerships will be responsible for supporting ‘the company’s ambitious growth plans’, according to eFuse.
Alongside its platform, eFuse also hosts ‘eRena’ esports events, with the firm looking to develop this avenue further in 2021. With the help of Duffy and May, the firm is expected to create greater relationships with brands, advertisers, and agencies, whilst also increasing its annual event total from 6 to 24 this year.
“eFuse is dedicated to helping gamers get discovered,” commented Matthew Benson, CEO of eFuse. “Our marquee event, ‘eRena,’ has seen explosive growth, and we’re thrilled to welcome Neil and Herb as they spotlight top gaming talent while providing valuable, high-conversion awareness to our partners.”
Esports Insider says: The acquisition of both Duffy and May will undoubtedly strengthen eFuse’s commerciality in the near future. The company is looking to establish itself among a variety of potential clients in the esports industry. With Duffy’s track record of securing high profile deals at CSL Esports, the acquisition seems to be nothing short of a great piece of business.
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