This is a scale-up bet on rollout discipline, because Friendly Fire is trying to turn gaming cafés into a repeatable franchise and platform model across Europe.
Croatian gaming café franchise and esports hub Friendly Fire has raised EUR 4 million in funding from AYMO Ventures, the company announced recently. Friendly Fire said the new capital will be used to strengthen franchisee support systems and develop its proprietary technology platform.
A franchise model, not a single-site story
Friendly Fire has positioned itself as a gaming café franchise and esports network, combining venue operations with a platform layer that is meant to standardise how locations are opened and run. That matters in a category where unit economics can look attractive on paper but execution varies widely across sites.
The company has already expanded beyond Croatia into Austria and later into Mexico, and media coverage has highlighted it as the first Croatian gaming franchise to open in Mexico. The cross-border footprint supports the thesis that this is being built as an infrastructure-style rollout rather than a one-off flagship venue.
Expansion targets are ambitious
Friendly Fire has publicly signalled aggressive growth. It has announced plans to open at least 100 new gaming clubs across Europe. A separate 2026 report said more than 200 additional locations were already in development across markets including the UK, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.
Those numbers underline the strategic logic of the AYMO Ventures funding: rapid expansion is hard to manage without robust onboarding, training, supply chain processes, and consistent customer experience. Friendly Fire’s stated use of proceeds, franchisee support and proprietary tech, directly addresses that operational bottleneck.
Valuation expectations have been visible for years
Friendly Fire has previously tapped alternative funding routes. In 2022, it launched a crowdfunding campaign valuing the company at over EUR 15 million. A 2022 report also cited founder David Kosir targeting an exit worth $100 million to $300 million by 2027, setting a high bar for growth and execution.
More recently, Friendly Fire closed a $4.7 million Series A round in August 2026 to accelerate international expansion and platform development, according to published reports. The EUR 4 million round now announced adds further capital behind the same strategic priorities.
What to watch: standardisation, not hype
The opportunity is clear: consumer demand for social gaming experiences is rising, and franchising can compress time-to-market if the playbook is strong. But the risk profile is equally clear.
Key execution points to watch include:
- Franchise quality control: rapid onboarding can dilute the brand if training and operational standards lag.
- Site economics and churn: repeat footfall, event programming and community-building determine whether locations become durable cash generators.
- Platform adoption: proprietary software only matters if it reduces friction for franchisees and improves unit performance.
- Cross-border complexity: labour rules, leasing dynamics and consumer preferences vary sharply across European markets.
For AYMO Ventures, the bet is that Friendly Fire can professionalise the franchise engine fast enough to keep pace with its expansion pipeline. For Friendly Fire, EUR 4 million is less about buying growth than systematising it.