SteelSeries ApS

What does SteelSeries own?

SteelSeries owns its namesake peripherals brand, the KontrolFreek controller accessories brand, and Nahimic audio technology. It is itself a subsidiary of GN Store Nord.

Is SteelSeries publicly traded?

SteelSeries is not separately listed. Its parent company, GN Store Nord A/S, trades on Nasdaq Copenhagen under ticker GN.

Who founded SteelSeries?

Jacob Wolff-Petersen founded the company in a Copenhagen basement in 2001, originally under the name Soft Trading. The company renamed to SteelSeries in 2007.

Where is SteelSeries headquartered?

SteelSeries is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices in Chicago, Taipei, Lille, and Singapore.

How many brands does SteelSeries own?

Three principal lines: the SteelSeries hardware brand, KontrolFreek accessories, and Nahimic audio software.

Who owns SteelSeries?

GN Store Nord owns 100 percent of SteelSeries following the January 2022 acquisition completed at an enterprise value of 8 billion Danish kroner. GN is publicly traded on Nasdaq Copenhagen.

What is SteelSeries' revenue?

The GN Gaming division, which is SteelSeries, reported revenue of 2.68 billion Danish kroner in 2025. SteelSeries standalone revenue was 2.58 billion kroner in 2023.

Jacob Wolff-Petersen founded the company in a Copenhagen basement in 2001 under the name Soft Trading. The first products were Icemat and SteelPad mouse surfaces, glass and metal pads marketed to competitive gamers who needed consistent tracking. The company renamed itself SteelSeries in 2007, adopting the name of its best-known product line.

Esports sponsorship was the founding strategy and remained the growth engine. SteelSeries claims to have been the first brand to sponsor professional gaming teams and tournaments, an approach that built product credibility directly with competitive players. Category firsts followed: the first purpose-built gaming headset, the first mechanical gaming keyboard, and the first gaming mouse with an onboard processor.

In 2008 SteelSeries acquired Ideazon, a North American peripherals developer, expanding its product engineering base. Nordic private equity firm Axcel became the controlling shareholder, with PKA and AlpInvest also holding stakes, while founder Wolff-Petersen and management invested through SteelSeries Holding II.

2020 was an acquisition year. In April, SteelSeries bought A-Volute, the French developer of the Nahimic 3D audio software embedded in millions of gaming PCs. In December, it acquired Atlanta-based KontrolFreek, the leader in attachable controller accessories, extending the portfolio into the console accessories category.

In October 2021, GN Store Nord agreed to acquire SteelSeries from Axcel for an enterprise value of 8 billion Danish kroner, about $1.25 billion. The all-cash transaction closed on January 12, 2022, after regulatory approvals. For GN, the deal added a consumer gaming growth engine alongside its hearing and enterprise audio divisions. SteelSeries has since operated as GN's Gaming division, with CEO Ehtisham Rabbani leading the business and the Arctis line continuing as the flagship hardware family.

SteelSeries became a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2020, committing to its principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. The company publishes sustainability commitments covering climate footprint reduction, responsible employer practices, and business conduct, with KPI tracking described in its annual reports.

As part of GN Store Nord, the company also falls under the parent's sustainability framework, which includes SBTi-aligned climate commitments and CDP disclosure. Products manufactured across Asia are subject to GN's supplier code of conduct. No independent certifications such as Fair Trade apply to the product category.

SteelSeries has no significant documented controversies, regulatory actions, or product safety events on record. Public scrutiny of the company is limited and mainly historical: the 2021 GN acquisition attracted commentary on the deal's leverage and the strategic logic of a hearing technology group buying a gaming peripherals maker, a question GN answered by pointing to shared audio engineering capability. No regulatory body challenged the transaction.