Stanley Ho’s youngest son, Mario, heads China’s first publicly traded esports company

NIP, which achieved a milestone as the first publicly listed Chinese e-sports company, raised a total of $20.25 million from an offering of 2.25 million American depositary shares at $9 per share.

“When we think back on this journey, we started as an esports team and now we have grown to represent the global esports industry,” said Ho, co-founder, chairman and co-CEO of NIP, in a speech at the opening ceremony of the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, New York.

“NIP Group is poised to make a significant mark on the global gaming industry as a Nasdaq-listed company,” he said, adding that being listed on the U.S. stock exchange was a “dream come true” moment for him as an entrepreneur.

Nasdaq Vice Chairman Bob McCooey on Friday praised Ho, who was born in 1995, for becoming the youngest founder of a Nasdaq-listed company in Asia. Ho is also NIP’s largest individual shareholder after the IPO, with a 13.6 percent stake.

According to the prospectus, NIP intends to use the net proceeds from its U.S. listing for working capital, expanding the reach of its esports teams, marketing activities and growing its fan base, potential strategic acquisitions and investment opportunities.

The group’s presence on the stock exchange reflects the growing popularity of esports around the world and the enormous commercial opportunities it offers.

The global esports industry market size is expected to reach $102.4 billion in 2027, up from $57.9 billion in 2022, according to a Frost & Sullivan report cited in NIP’s prospectus. NIP was described in the report as a “leading esports organization” with the most extensive global reach, with operations in Asia, Europe and South America.

“What esports really lacks is not money, but the ability to make money,” said Zhang Shule, an analyst at CBJ Think Tank.

“A listing (NIP) can provide the company with sufficient funds, but after that, the key to its future will still depend on its profit model,” he said.

Although it reported net income of $83.7 million last year, compared with $65.8 million in 2022, NIP is still a loss-making business. Net losses last year widened to $13.3 million, compared with $6.3 million in 2022. The company’s prospectus said the loss reflected “significant investments we have made to grow our business.”