Tier One Entertainment

Tier One Entertainment is a Philippine esports and gaming talent management company that represents streamers, content creators, and competitive gaming talent, and operates Blacklist International, a championship-winning Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports team. It was founded in 2017 by esports veteran Tryke Gutierrez, cosplay and gaming personality Alodia Gosiengfiao, and entrepreneur Brian Lim, at a time when livestreaming and mobile esports were only beginning to be taken seriously as a Philippine media business.

The company’s business model centers on managing the commercial side of gaming talent’s careers, including brand partnerships, streaming platform relationships, and team operations, rather than building its own game titles. It reports managing more than 1,000 talents and has expanded operations into Malaysia and Myanmar in addition to its home base in the Philippines.

Tier One announced a pre-Series A funding round in April 2021 led by Gobi Partners through its Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (a joint venture with Philippine fund Core Capital), with Warner Music Group, Singapore’s Octava, Japan’s KAYAC Inc., and Atlas Ventures also participating. None of the press coverage of the round disclosed the exact amount raised; the funding_raised bucket used in this entry (1m-5m) is this entry’s own conservative estimate for a multi-investor pre-Series A round of this profile and should be treated as an informed estimate rather than a confirmed figure, since no source ever published a specific number.

Filipino gaming streamers, esports players, and content creators historically had few professional structures around them to negotiate brand deals, manage team logistics, or build sustainable careers, leaving individual talent to handle business relationships on their own even as livestreaming and mobile esports audiences grew rapidly.

Gaming and esports talent (streamers, competitive players, content creators) who join Tier One's roster for management and team representation, plus brands and sponsors looking to reach gaming audiences through those creators and teams.

Tier One combines talent management with owning and operating its own competitive esports team (Blacklist International), giving it both a media/influencer business and a competitive sports franchise under one roof, plus backing from a major international music label (Warner Music Group) that is unusual for a Southeast Asian esports company.