Croatia's Friendly Fire raises €4M to build the world's largest gaming-café chain

What's the deal? Croatian gaming-café franchise Friendly FireDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised €4 million in a Series A round led by AYMO VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The company plans to accelerate international expansion, develop its software platform, and support franchise partners.

What's the endgame? Founded in 2017 by chief executive officer David Kosir, Friendly Fire standardises gaming cafés — combining physical venues with a proprietary software platform and central management. The aim, in Kosir's words, is "becoming the world's largest gaming café chain."

By the numbers: The company has 31 signed franchise agreements covering 178 locations across 11 countries. Its platform counts more than 220,000 users and has hosted over 1,000 amateur esports competitions.

Where it's expanding: Friendly Fire is opening three cafés simultaneously in Limassol, Cyprus; Rijeka, Croatia; and Vienna, Austria. The openings mark its push beyond its home market and into Western Europe.

Why it matters: The gaming-café market is fragmented, dominated by inconsistent independent venues with no shared standards, technology, or brand. Friendly Fire's model lets each new café plug into a single network.

AYMO Ventures framed the technology as the core advantage. "The technology layer transforms a good gaming café into a network that strengthens with each new opening," the firm said.

The signal: At €4 million, the round sits below the median for its category, reflecting the still-early stage of Europe's gaming-café consolidation. But Friendly Fire's franchise-plus-software approach shows how a fragmented, offline-first sector is being pulled into a scalable, networked model — with a Croatian startup betting it can lead the roll-up.

Read more: therecursive.com

Image credit: Denis Dervisevic