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Why would the VC & PE industries
be interested in this market?
My business background was mainly in established
industries (e.g. manufacturing & B2B in
mobile Telecoms in EMEA & Asia Pacific),
it was indeed a bit of a shock when I got into
the remote gaming & gambling world, as suddenly,
I found myself in the 'wild-wild-west'. Transparency
is indeed NOT the strength of the industry (in
some, ownership, corporate structure & company
activities are shrouded in secrecy). This is
mostly because of the complexity of legal structures
worldwide (e.g. restrictions/prohibitions of
serving and or accepting bets from certain countries
from etc.) See the
"industry challenges" side bar here,
it also contains my thoughts on the new 3Gs.
Therefore, as all finance/city professionals
know well, where there is "no perfect information"
nor "transparency", this also means
great opportunity
for arbitrage, and it also means
great financial opportunities!
Challenge is how to spot the up & coming opportunities and make sure that you distinguish
the gems from the rocks!?
Why Should we work with you?
As a daily routine, I keep my eyes closely
on the developments within gaming, gambling
and Telecoms markets. I keep my focus on market
trends, key players and their positioning (based
on direct dealing with them or via press communications).
Click
here to contact me for opportunities and how
I can help.
Therefore, I am in a unique position, and given
the infancy of the market, I trust that I am
one of few people in the world that has the
best bird's eyes view and in-depth understanding
of the emerging remote gaming/gambling market.
I also have an understanding of the technical
and legal issues surrounding the emerging multi-channel
(online, mobile & iTV) gaming/gambling products
services. (of course, legal advises etc. would
be coming directly from the most respectable
lawyers in the industries like: BLP, Olswang
& HaganHarris etc.)
What are the investment opportunities??
Due to my personal positioning within the industry,
I do have access to some startups which are
ripe for investment for the like-minded PE/VC
companies. They usually have strong products
that serves existing or future market needs,
or indeed the technology/services they provide
are disruptive or help the market to move further
within the industry life-cycle. These are some
examples:
1.) GamSure,
which I started, provide bond guarantee scheme to
the world remote gaming gambling industry (via jurisdictions,
banks, industry associations etc.) & protect the aggregated
liability. It brings much needed protection
to end players, but also 'legitimise' the gaming
industry by providing further trust & confidence
over and ontop of the brands of the gaming operations.
We are the only company in the world doing this,
and we are actively looking for funding (seed
stage 2 million UK pounds, investors could
chose to exit when GamSure go public in six
months time).
2.) Multi-channel gaming platform
provider, I am advising some up & coming
gaming provider who would like to re-position
themselves as the market leading multi-channel
3Gs services (see
my definition here) platform companies.
(seed stage, 500k to 1million UK pounds)
3.) Disruptive retail technology
services for the retail & corporate market
(seed stage of 8-10 million UK pounds).
Do email
me should you like to learn more about the
above requirements.
Which are the key potential investment areas??
Given the competitiveness of the UK listing
market (London Stock Exchange, to Alternative
Investment Market and the up & coming Ofex),
combined with the soon to be deregulated UK
gaming/gambling market and the key remote gambling
jurisdictions (channel islands) close by, it
is no wonder why the likes of NeTeller chose
to be listed in UK.
The remote gaming/gambling market is now pretty
well serviced by software and platform suppliers
from UK, Israel, Canada, and certain Nordic countries like
Sweden. Supporting services like
various implementation of e-money/wallet (even
m-wallet), user
location/age/identity authentications and transaction
non-repudiations etc. are being served by companies
that are gaining more & more experience
and credibility. These sectors may still be subject to some consolidations
soon, especially initiated by the
comparatively well funded and listed
players.
Up & coming areas within the industry would
include any products & services that help
the industry moving forward by strengthening
the key accelerators I laid out (on left side
bar), namely Legitimacy, Transparency,
and Security of the industry.
Of course, for key initiatives to succeed,
key brands will have to lead from the the front as the consumers will
follow (as long as the products/services will be
continuously improved). May the thought
leaders wins!
One thing that we all need to bear in mind to adhere to code
of conducts devised from responsible
gaming charities like GamCare,
as there is just ONE way to run a legitimate and
responsible gaming/gambling business.
Interesting industry related Links:
Private
Equity Week newsletter
European Private
Equity and Venture Capital Association
British Venture
Capital Association
London
Seed Capital
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