SteelSeries (styled as steelseries), formerly Icemat, is a Danish manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, controllers, and mousepads. SteelSeries was acquired by

GN Store Nord GN Store Nord A/S is a Danish manufacturer of hearing aids (GN ReSound/GN Hearing), speakerphones, videobars and headsets ( Jabra (GN Audio) and SteelSeries). GN Store Nord A/S is listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen (ISIN code DK0010272632). Hist ...

in 2021.

History

SteelSeries was founded as Icemat in 2001 by Jacob Wolff-Petersen. The company's original name was Soft Trading, and it was changed to SteelSeries in 2007. Soft Trading made the Icemat and SteelPad mouse mats, which influenced the company's eventual name change. In 2008, SteelSeries acquired Ideazon, a North America-based developer and manufacturer of gaming peripherals. Michael von Essen-Mueller, the company's first CEO, helped the company establish its brand and grow to a global footprint. In 2007, SteelSeries hired Bruce Hawver as CEO. The company saw tremendous growth over the next five years as it expanded its portfolio and channels, developed the SteelSeries Engine platform, and added

partnerships A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations m ...

across the esports and the gaming ecosystem. In 2012, SteelSeries received investments of undisclosed amounts from U.S.-based private equity firm Catterton Partners and China-based private equity firm ClearVue Partners. Their popular products include their Rival and Sensei series of mice, Arctis headsets, and Apex keyboards. They also have made 5XL mousepads (QcK line). SteelSeries often creates limited edition collaborations, such as the Valve CS:GO Howl Edition mouse and mousepad, and the

CD Projekt CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game company based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, which initially acted as ...

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith's ''Cyberpunk (role-playing game), Cyberpunk'' tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metrop ...

headset. In July 2019, SteelSeries was acquired by

Axcel Axcel is a Nordic private equity firm with offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Since its foundation in 1994, Axcel has made 68 platform investments. The firm currently owns 20 companies across all four Nordic countries The Nordic countries ...

, a Nordic private equity firm. In April 2020, SteelSeries acquired Nahimic audio software developer A-Volute, and in December 2020, SteelSeries acquired gaming accessory manufacturer KontrolFreek. In October 2021,

announced plans to acquire SteelSeries from Axcel for 8 billion DKK (about US$1.25 billion). The deal closed on 12 January 2022, officially making it a subsidiary.

Sponsorships

SteelSeries supports a number of

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

teams and individuals through sponsorships and community support. Sponsored teams include

FaZe Clan FaZe Clan, or simply FaZe, is a professional esports and entertainment brand. Founded on May 30, 2010, as FaZe Sniping, the organization has professional players and content creators from around the world, across multiple games. In October 20 ...

, Evil Geniuses, Vitality, EDward Gaming,

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

, among others. Past sponsorships include

Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen Manuel Schenkhuizen (), better known as Grubby, is a Dutch internet personality and former professional esports player. He competed in the real-time strategy genre, predominantly playing ''Warcraft III'' (WC3), '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Thro ...

and Tom "Tsquared" Taylor in 2011. They have also sponsored tournaments, including a preseason

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) was a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. From 2018 to 2023, the Overwatch League followed the model of other traditional North American prof ...

tournament named the Steelseries Invitational.

Partnerships

SteelSeries has held partnerships with major companies in the gaming industry, including

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

(HP),

Gunnar Optiks GUNNAR Optiks is a company founded in 2007 that specializes in treated eyewear, marketed as safety glasses that protect eyes from computer vision syndrome. Gunnar eyewear has received considerable attention in technical media reviews, including P ...

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

(

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

), MSI, and

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.steelseries.com/ Danish companies established in 2001 Computer hardware companies Computer peripheral companies Computing input devices Computer companies of Denmark Manufacturing companies of Denmark Manufacturing companies based in Copenhagen Companies based in Frederiksberg Municipality Pointing devices GN Store Nord