Singapore-based online gaming company Garena is now expanding to more than just handling specific games for the Southeast Asia market. A new round of investments totalling up to $550 million USD and has since rebranded itself from Garena (a portmanteau for “Global Arena”) to Sea (as in Southeast Asia).
The new investment should enable Sea to expand its e-commerce arm, Shopee to Indonesia.
The new rebrand affects the main company, though it remains to be seen if it will affect the gaming arm of the company that operates under the Garena name.
As a gaming company, Garena has been operating the MOBA League Of Legends and the free-to-play version of EA’s FIFA, FIFA Online 3 in Southeast Asia. Aside from running the games, the company has big plans to invest on the esports scene particularly in Malaysia with the Malaysian College League (MYCL) and Garena Student Alliance (GSA) initiatives.