North American esports organisation M80 has announced the acquisition of Beastcoast.
As part of the acquisition deal, M80 will take over several of Beastcoast’s esports operations, including its top team in Dota 2, the Pokemon media business, as well as key staff members such as its CEO Grant Zinn. According to a release, Beastcoast’s Rainbow Six Siege team was not involved in the transaction.
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Going forward, Zinn will join M80 as Chief Business Development Officer, supporting M80’s expansion plans and growth in fast-growing regions like South America. Zinn’s addition to the team comes shortly after co-founder Nate Schanker departed the organisation to pursue new opportunities.
Financial figures regarding M80’s acquisition of Beastcoast have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2022 by Marco Mereu, former Chief Operating Officer at XSET, M80 is a multi-title esports team that competes across VALORANT, Rainbow Six: Siege, Counter-Strike and eNASCAR.
Despite its late creation, the company successfully raised $3m (~£2.43m) in a seed investment round in 2023 with tennis star Daniil Medvedev also joining M80’s ownership group. M80’s commercial portfolio also includes the likes of cryptocurrency software platform Exodus, Zowie, Secretlab and Aimlab, among others.
Beastcoast is mainly known for qualifying for several editions of Dota 2’s The International as well as winning various regional titles in South America. With the latest acquisition, M80 will now enter the Dota 2 scene for the first time. Valve’s MOBA game was recently announced as a title in the upcoming 2025 Esports World Cup.
M80 Founder and CEO, Marco Mereu, commented on the acquisition: “M80 and Beastcoast have a lot of mutual respect for the communities we’ve built – and now we’re ready to take it to the next level.
“This move will bring M80 into key new esports titles like DOTA 2, allow us to reach and support new fans, and continue the breakneck momentum we’ve maintained since launching M80 just a year ago.”
