Manchester-based gaming and tech media publisher, By Gamers For Gamers (BGFG) is set for another strong year of growth and further acquisitions after strong performance in 2022.
BGFG was founded in 2019 with a focus in building a portfolio of websites in the tech and gaming sector. As the demand for its online content grew, the business sought additional investment to support its growth aspirations. As part of a £1m raise completing in 2021, BGFG received a £150,000 institutional investment from GC Angels. This funding was critical in supporting BGFG in its early stages and allowed the business to scale its existing platform, whilst increasing revenue streams for its digital content.
During 2022, two new subsidiary businesses were created; Agency GMR, a brand services agency helping tech and gaming brands with marketing campaigns, and Gaming Giveaways, an ecommerce raffle business.
Over the last year, the business has seen continued strong growth, and has attracted top talent such as Talal Musa as Head of Digital in July 2022 who previously came from Gfinity Esports PLC. The business then acquired Videogamer.com, a gaming review and news site. The site attracted around 100,000 users a month when acquired, the site has grown significantly since and boasts over 3.5m users per month coming to the site. In February 2023 the business completed a further acquisition of N4G.com, a gaming news aggregator site.
This year the business is looking to expand its digital content offering, with plans to acquire more businesses to bolster its existing portfolio. As the gaming industry is set to grow to £268bn by 2025, up from £155bn in 2020, the business also plans to continue diversifying its model into other areas of gaming and tech.
Andrew Kirkcaldy, co-founder and CEO of BGFG, said: “It has been quite a journey since we started back in 2019 with just 4 people. With over 30 full time employees and a talented international freelancer team I am very excited for the years ahead. With our recent acquisitions of Videogamer.com and N4G.com we have created a great foothold in the gaming and tech media space.
Whilst COVID undoubtedly impacted the global tech supply chains (and continues to do so) this has meant we have had to diversify our revenue streams in order to build resilience to wider economic challenges. It has been great to see the business continue to accelerate which is testament to the amazing team that we have at BGFG.
Having worked with the team at GC Angels in the early stages of BGFG’s growth, providing the vital funding we needed early on, it’s great to know they’re helping to develop the North’s tech and publishing sector of which is important not just to our business, but the wider region as well.”
Sam Patchitt, investment and portfolio manager at GC Angels, added: “BGFG’s performance has been exceptional over the past few years. With a team that is passionate about delivering insightful content to its growing user base, I can’t wait to see what the next few years hold for the business and wish the team every success.”