Fnatic, which has players from across the world in professional leagues in games such as League of Legends, wants fans to own around 1.5 per cent of the business.

Sam Mathews, chief executive of Fnatic, told BBC Newsbeat the organisation "want to give them a place to voice their opinion, give a transparent view into what we're doing, where we're going and why".

"There's no truer way of bringing fans on your journey than giving an actual opportunity to own a piece of it," Mathews added.

"Until now there hasn't really been a way for fans of esports to join their favourite teams.

"It's only been available to very rich individuals or institutional investors.

"This is definitely not about getting an extra cash injection, it's about the three and a half thousand people so far, who've come along to invest."

Fnatic recently received £7.5 million ($10 million/€8 million) in private funding and more than 3,000 people have signed up to own part of the business, which Mathews said had raised a further £1.5 million ($2 million/€1.6 million).

"I think one of the things that a lot of companies or teams get wrong is not asking often enough - what does the community actually want?" Mathews added.

"Recently we had a big change in our League of Legends roster, and our fans were disgruntled, they were upset.

"So we opened the doors and let them ask us anything about why and how it happened.

"Afterwards they were thanking us for being transparent and so we want to give them that all year round."

Fnatic's League of Legends team won the first League of Legends World Championship in 2011 and are among the top esports organisations in the world.