NZXT Secures $100M Strategic Investment to fuel its expansion

NZXT secures external investment to create new products and secure more talent

For the first time in the company’s history, NZXT has received a major strategic investment from outside the company, securing the company a staggering $100 million.

Francisco Partners led this round of investments, though other investors include several tech entrepreneurs from various industries. Despite the size of this investment, NZXT’s CEO, Johnny Hou, will remain as NZXT’s majority shareholder, maintaining his control of the company. However, Francisco Partners’ Alan Ni will take a seat NZXT’s board of directors.

NZXT believes that this investment will allow the manufacturer to expand, allowing the company to expand its product offerings, expand its direct-to-consumer offerings, and invest more in NZXT’s community and branding.

One critical part of NZXT’s announcement is their intention to create products for “new hardware categories”. However, NZXT has not been clear what these new hardware products will be, or how long it will be before these new hardware products are launched. Is NZXT planning to release PC monitors? Perhaps new GPUs to match their motherboard designs?

Recent years have seen the world’s interest in gaming and associated products boom. The pandemic has accelerated this trend, as global lockdowns have encouraged gamers to invest heavily in their setups and many non-gamers to start playing.

With their $100 million investment, NZXT is now set to expand. Hopefully, that means that we will be seeing a lot of exciting products from NZXT over the next few years. We look forward to seeing NZXT’s “new hardware categories”.

What follows is NZXT’s Press Release.

PR – NZXT SECURES FIRST-EVER STRATEGIC INVESTMENT LED BY FRANCISCO PARTNERS

NZXT, a leader in PC gaming hardware and services, today announced it has secured a strategic investment of approximately $100 million led by Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses. This investment will allow NZXT to bring on more senior talent, expand its product offering to include new hardware categories, expand its direct-to-consumer offering in new global markets, invest more in the community, and focus on continuing to build the NZXT brand.

In addition to Francisco Partners, strategic investors in NZXT also include top leaders and entrepreneurs across multiple industries, reflecting how PC gaming connects many different worlds. This group of investors includes (but is not exclusive to):

– Kevin Lin – Co-Founder of Twitch
– Vanessa Dew – Co-Founder & CSO of Health-Ade Kombucha
– Patrick Lee – Co-Founder of Rotten Tomatoes
– James Lin – Co-Founder of CrunchyRoll
– Eddie Hartman – Co-Founder of LegalZoom
– James Park – Co-Founder & CEO of Fitbit, Inc.
– Kevin Ma – Founder of Hypebeast
– Michael Chen – Co-Founder and President of Pokeworks

“We have always been laser-focused on our community and meeting their needs. As the industry and the world around us has evolved, we realized it was time to reach out for strategic guidance and invest more deeply in all of the things our community has been asking for,” said Johnny Hou, CEO of NZXT. “Francisco Partners’ track record and expertise helping successful technology companies take their growth to the next level made them the ideal partner for us. We look forward to working closely with their team as they not only understand the challenges we face and where our priorities are, but most importantly, they are as committed to our community as we are.”

As a part of this investment, Hou will remain the majority shareholder and maintain control of the company and day-to-day operations. Alan Ni from Francisco Partners will also join NZXT’s Board of Directors.

“Under Johnny’s visionary leadership, NZXT has established itself as both a leader and innovator in the PC gaming industry with products that are designed to make PC gaming more achievable and accessible for everyone across the gaming community,” said Alan Ni, who leads consumer internet investing at Francisco Partners. “As NZXT enters this next phase of growth, we are excited to partner with Johnny and the entire team to help them scale the business and expand into new products built to serve the needs of gamers across the world.”

NZXT will remain focused on creating seamless experiences for PC gamers with products that include top quality PC cases, coolers, fans, and accessories including the newly released Capsule microphone. The Company will continue to offer PC gaming enthusiasts the opportunity to purchase customized ideal set-ups or pre-built systems, including the NZXT BLD Kit for the first-time builder. The BLD Kit comes complete with all of the components, tools, and guidance necessary for those who are new to PC gaming and are looking for a hands-on experience. With the BLD Kit in addition to a growing roster of configuration and support services, NZXT now has solutions for those at all experience levels – making PC gaming more achievable and seamless for everyone.

You can join the discussion on NZXT’s planned expansion on the OC3D Forums.