Dennis Fong and Ryan Wyatt join Bitkraft Ventures as venture partners

Bitkraft Ventures said Dennis Fong and Ryan Wyatt are joining as venture partners. Bitkraft Ventures is an investment platform focused on gaming and interactive media. Both of the new partners will be offering portfolio advice, mentorship and deal flow timing.

Fong comes from the original esports scene

Dennis “Thresh” Fong has deep gaming roots. Fong is one of the original big esports names, having come up playing Quake and Doom professionally. He also co-founded Xfire back when social media was all built around instant messenger clients. These days Fong is at the top of GGWP, a company working to reduce toxicity in gaming.

“I’ve spent more than 25 years at the intersection of gaming and entrepreneurship — first as a professional gamer, then as a five-time founder of venture backed companies — so I know what good investors look like,” said Fong. “Bitkraft Ventures has one of the most passionate, well-intentioned, and founder-focused teams in gaming, and I’m thrilled to be joining them as a Venture Partner to help support the next generation of founders.”

Wyatt came up as an Esports caster

Ryan “Fwiz” Wyatt’s industry history falls closer to the caster side of things, rather than the player side. Wyatt started as a commentator in 2008 working for Major League Gaming. He joined Machinima in 2011 in an esports role. He then returned to MLG in 2014 to work as VP of Programming. Wyatt eventually landed at Google, in multiple roles including head of gaming at Youtube. These days he’s the boss of Polygon Studios, the largest Web 3 and blockchain developer platform in the world.

“This is a holy sh** moment for Bitkraft Ventures. Dennis and Ryan are OGs in gaming and Esports with massive industry experience and network, and a passion for games that rivals our own. Dennis and I share decades of entrepreneurship experience and Ryan has been a major driving force for Esports and gaming to go mainstream during his time creating and leading the Gaming vertical at YouTube,” said Bitkraft’s Jens Hilgers, in a statement. “Working hand in hand with both to support ideas, founders and companies makes me and the entire Bitkraft team incredibly happy. These two venture partners will be a great additional value add not only for Bitkraft Ventures but for the portfolio companies we serve.”

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz