Felix LaHaye

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Felix LaHaye
Born1988 (age 35–36)
NationalityCanadian
OccupationBusinessman

Felix LaHaye is a businessman from Quebec,[1][2][3] founder and CEO of United Esports.

He is also the co-founder of Open Influence,[4] the first American influencer marketing organization.

Biography[edit]

Youth and education[edit]

Felix LaHaye graduated from the London School of Economics[5][6] in 2009 with a bachelor degree, and received his masters in 2010 from the same university. He held his first job at radio station CKDG-FM in his hometown of Montreal.

Career[edit]

Felix LaHaye began his career as a musician before settling in Los Angeles, following the completion of his studies. It is in that city that he founded Open Influence, then known as InstaBrand, in 2012. While leading InstaBrand, LaHaye purchased the first American paid sponsorship influencer post on Instagram.[7]

LaHaye launched United Esports in 2018, which quickly became one of the market leaders in creative marketing within esports.[8][9][10]

United Esports[edit]

After having led Open Influence for several years, Felix LaHaye co-founded United Esports, a creative media company focused on offering opportunities for big brands to participate in and to leverage esports and gaming culture. The company has since established partnerships with several marketing leading brands (Procter & Gamble, Tampax, McDonalds, Wisdom Gaming, Garner Foods) for international marketing campaigns.[11][12][13]

In 2022, United Esports partnered with the DFINITY Foundation to launch Achievement Unblocked[14] and with Talon Esports, an esports organization in which LaHaye was one of the first investors, to launch a record with, Thai streamer Gam Toh et American producer Prince Fox.[15]

In 2023 Inc. Magazine named United Esports as one of America's fastest companies, ranking 370, the highest rank for a company in its vertical in that year's Inc. 5000 list.[16]

Investments[edit]

Felix LaHaye is a frequent investor in various gaming-industry organizations, notably esports bar chain Meltdown,[17] esports team PSG Talon,[18] esports team Beastcoast, and social network GameTree[19]

Awards and recognitions[edit]

  • 2016: Inc Magazine 30 Under 30[20]
  • 2017: Forbes 30 Under 30[21]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ "A Vos Affaires - TVA 2023".
  2. ^ Lapinski, Jessica (2023-12-29). "Les jeux vidéo ont-ils leur place dans le mouvement olympique? Un entrepreneur québécois estime que oui". Le Journal de Québec. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  3. ^ "Zone Économie : Sports électroniques | Info". Radio-Canada (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  4. ^ "The Evolution of Influencer Marketing". www.dojo.live. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  5. ^ Science, London School of Economics and Political. "Alum of the Month - July 2017". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  6. ^ "Class Notes". www.alumni.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  7. ^ Lapinski, Jessica (2023-12-29). "Les jeux vidéo ont-ils leur place dans le mouvement olympique? Un entrepreneur québécois estime que oui". Le Journal de Québec. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  8. ^ Berman, Marc. "Gaming And Esports In The Mainstream: Felix LaHaye Of United Esports Seizes The Opportunity". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  9. ^ "United Esports' Felix LaHaye On Influencer Marketing, Esports VCs, And Esports Bars On Podcast #253!". YouTube (in French). Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  10. ^ Stories, Local (2023-12-11). "Exploring Life & Business with Felix LaHaye of United Esports - Voyage LA Magazine | LA City Guide". voyagela.com. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  11. ^ Ivan Šimić (6 June 2023). "United Esports partners with Texas Pete and Garner Foods". Esports Insider.
  12. ^ Jonno Nicholson (July 22, 2022). "Wisdom Gaming joins forces with United Esports". Esports Insider.
  13. ^ "Game on with Tampax". tampax.com. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  14. ^ Takahashi, Dean (2022-01-17). "United Esports and Dfinity Foundation create $10M blockchain game dev contest". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  15. ^ Tom Daniels (21 April 2023). "Talon Esports Music Album". Esports Insider.
  16. ^ "Inc. 5000 - 2023".
  17. ^ Kerry Waananen (28 March 2022). "Kappa Bar acquires Meltdown Bars, forms world's largest esports bar chain". Esports Insider.
  18. ^ "Talon Esports Raises $2M Seed Investment – ARCHIVE - The Esports Observer". 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  19. ^ "GameTree raises $1.7M Seed funding to create safe spaces for gamers globally". Tech.eu. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  20. ^ "Inc. 30 Under 30 2016".
  21. ^ "Felix LaHaye, 28, Eric Dahan, 26, Alex Dahan, 24 - undefined - 2017 30 Under 30: Marketing & Advertising". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
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