Houlihan Lokey Advises Chess.com

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Chess.com has received a growth investment from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity investor. The investment makes General Atlantic a significant investor and partner in the company’s mission to grow the game of chess.

Launched in 2007, Chess.com is the world’s leading online destination for playing, learning, and watching chess, with over 75 million registered users and more than 10 million games played every day. Chess.com offers an extensive suite of free and paid options to players of all levels, including online chess gameplay, puzzles, game analysis, and hundreds of lessons taught by chess grandmasters and coaches. Members can engage with friends through a social community via the Chess.com app and website, ChessKid, Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf, and other apps. Chess.com has also become a key content provider to the global chess community, streaming some of the world’s largest chess tournaments, including the World Chess Championship.

Chess has enjoyed a renaissance over the past few years driven by the convergence of several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, mainstream media such as Netflix’s hit show The Queen’s Gambit, and the growing popularity of chess in e-sports channels such as Twitch and YouTube.

The partnership with General Atlantic will enable Chess.com to continue its international expansion, develop new products and features, and further build its loyal and engaged community of global chess players.

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity fund with offices throughout the United States, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Since it was founded in 1980, General Atlantic has looked to partner with high-growth businesses to help their innovative founders continue to build and grow their companies. Currently, the firm has $86 billion in assets under management across its active funds and primarily invests in five sectors: consumer, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, and technology.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Chess.com and assisted in marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on behalf of the company. This transaction further demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s leading position in advising premier digital media/video game companies around the world.