DIGITAL GAMING VENTURE FORMED BY CASHCADE FOUNDERS
Thursday September 15,2011 : Supported by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment
A new digital gaming venture capital fund formed by Cashcade co-founders Simon Collins and Patrick Southon will be supported by Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC.
The fund titled "NewGame Capital" has been set up with an initial GBP 15 million investment from Bwin.Party with the intention of investing in high potential start-ups in the monetised digital gaming arena that include casual, social, online and mobile services.
Focusing on early-stage investments, the fund will reportedly invest in as many as fifteen companies. The fund comprises bwin's GBP 15 million pound investment and another GBP 1 million from the investment team. Additional backers are hoped to bring to GBP 50 million for the fund in total. Advisers to the fund include Collins, Southon and merchant bank NewShore Partners.
Southon and Collins leaving day-to-day operations at Bwin.Party and embarking on the new e-gaming venture in February 2011 (see previous InfoPowa report) has borne fruit with the kick off of a first round investment in social bingo provider Avatingo described as a "multi-platform virtual world with a personalised social bingo experience."
"We see huge innovation taking place across the social, casual, mobile and real-money gaming area," said Martin Weigold, chief financial officer, bwin. "NewGame Capital has a rare combination of entrepreneurial, strategic and financial expertise. We believe that this will allow it not only to identify companies with innovative business models, but also to guide them towards long-term success."
Patrick Southon, Adviser, NewGame added: "With the growth of micro-payments and other forms of paid-participation, the lines between online gaming and online gambling have started to blur. "We anticipate continued strong market growth in monetised digital gaming and are seeing a very vibrant start-up scene related to the sector both in Europe and North America."
