Former Spotify ANZ chief Kate Vale joins Mogul to grow eSports

With the growth of demand for eSports during the pandemic, global eSports media and software business Esports Mogul has turned to Kate Vale, ex-managing director of Spotify and Google in Australia & New Zealand.

The tech pioneer joins as non-executive director of the company which has a footprint in Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

So far the fast growing eSports sector still has no one company that is regarded as its leader, and Mogul intends to occupy that position.

With no eSports events and tournaments currently able to be staged physically, Mogul is promoting its platform as an “all-online solution”.

Mogul managing director Gernot Abl said that Vale’s 24 years in digital sales and marketing expertise “adding incredible value to further shaping our market-fit and monetisation” and “bring a diversity of new insights and networks to Mogul.”

According to Vale, who also served at Microsoft, “Mogul’s world-class software suite is already delivering value for publishers, organisers and brands and their gamer communities. 

“The eSports ecosystem is only nascent, which in my experience, presents great opportunities for a digital product to navigate and deliver value to rights-holders whilst meeting consumer needs. 

“No one has won the category yet so I am very excited to work with Gernot, co-director Cameron (Adams) and the Mogul team to build something special.”  

At Spotify ANZ, which she joined in 2011 and set up as the company’s 14th and 15th markets and drove music streaming, Vale was the first regional employee to manage all aspects of the business in Oceania, and instrumental in setting up the Asian operations in 2013.

She relocated to Los Angeles in 2016 as part of her Spotify role and left a year later.

As country manager for Google Australia and New Zealand, Vale set up local offices, managed a staff of 150, and grew revenues from zero to US$500 million over six years.

At the end of June 2020, Mogul reported it had cash reserves of over $2.4 million and a quarterly net operating cash flow of $489,000.