Maincast - Maksim Krippa first investment in esports: how it happened

Maincast is a company that specializes in broadcasting esports events. It owns about 90% of the rights to Ukrainian-language broadcasts. The monopolist was founded in 2018, when businessman Maksim Krippa joined the company as a co-owner and major investor. Here's how the businessman's support allowed Maincast to grow exponentially and what it brought to Maksim Krippa himself.

The story of Maincast began in 2018, when Ukrainian esports and sports commentator Vitaliy Volochai and his colleague Andriy Grigoriev decided to create a Ukrainian studio for broadcasting esports events. First of all, they started looking for investments. They decided to turn to businessman Maksim Krippa and were right.

In the early stages, at least $800,000 was needed to launch the studio part, which was raised from external investors. One of the first investors, Maksym Krippa, acquired a 25% stake in the company just two months after it was founded. Volochai notes that the concept and potential of esports was explained to investors in detail, which prompted Maksym Krippa to invest in the new project. This was his first investment in esports, which later led to his acquisition of the NAVI team.

At the speed of light: how Maksim Krippa investment pushed Maincast to success

Maksym Krippa investment in Maincast allowed the studio to achieve significant success in a short time. In the first year of its existence, in 2018, Maincast launched its first major project - broadcasting the qualifiers for The International 2018. The same year brought another significant event: the company organized the Maincast Autumn Brawl online Dota 2 tournament. This tournament attracted over 6.5 million views, confirming the audience's interest in the new player in the esports broadcasting market.

The following year, 2019, Maksim Krippa kept his investment in the company and the studio's success continued. During the qualifiers for The International, the studio attracted 58% of all views on the Twitch platform, becoming a key player in the esports broadcasting market. This was an important achievement given the high competition and saturation of the market. By 2020, the csgomc_ru channel owned by Maincast became the most popular Russian-language esports channel in terms of viewership. This underscored the studio's successful positioning in the broadcast market.

Maincast - development strategy

It's also worth noting that Maincast owns the rights to broadcast 90-95% of all esports tournaments in Ukrainian. The studio achieved this figure even when investor Maksim Krippa was systematically investing in the development of the studio. This not only strengthens the company's position in the Ukrainian market but also emphasizes its role in popularizing esports among the Ukrainian-speaking audience.

In general, Maincast successfully focuses on Ukrainian-language broadcasts, which is an important strategic position in the context of the development of esports in Ukraine. The studio currently controls 90% of the rights to cover international esports tournaments in Ukrainian. Such important tournaments include the ESL Pro Tour for Dota 2 and CS, the DreamLeague for Dota 2, as well as the Blast Premier for CS and DPC leagues for Dota 2, covering all regions. This allows Maincast not only to maintain the interest of the Ukrainian-speaking audience in esports, but also to promote linguistic diversity in global esports events, which was one of the tasks set by Maksim Krippa.

Maincast is actively working to expand its influence in the esports community, attracting a significant number of viewers to its broadcasts and strengthening its reputation as a leader in the field of esports media in the Ukrainian language.

Opportunities and prospects

Maincast Studio, which is 25% owned by Maksim Krippa, is actively seeking to attract new advertisers as the number of viewers of Ukrainian-language broadcasts is constantly growing. Although it is not yet generating much revenue, the company is focused on the long term. The advertising market in this segment is still being formed and the cost of one stream for individual bloggers can reach $1000.

As the audience of Ukrainian-language broadcasts grows, the chances that organizers of major global tournaments will pay attention to this market increase. This could lead to Ukrainian commentators being invited directly to the game lobbies, as well as an increase in the number of sponsors. At the same time, investor Maksim Krippa understands the market prospects and is ready to invest more in Maincast. Given that the audience in this segment is young and solvent, such a development could significantly affect the economic prospects of Maincast in the esports industry.