Lancement du fonds d'investissement GameOn aux Pays-Bas
GameOn, nouveau fonds d'investissement du jeu vidéo, annonce aujourd'hui son lancement à l'occasion de l'ouverture du salon Casual Connect Europe, qui se tient à Amsterdam du 11 au 13 février 2014.
Supporté par le gouvernement hollandais et regroupant des entrepreneurs expérimentés du jeu vidéo, GameOn a pour mission d'accélérer la croissance de l'industrie du jeu vidéo en ligne et mobile grâce à la création d'un fonds initial d'investissement de 10 millions d'Euros.
GameOn va cibler les start-ups les plus innovantes et prometteuses du secteur, avec un potentiel de développement aux Pays-Bas, pays d'Europe qui a déjà démontré un fort potentiel de créativité et d'innovation.
Vous trouverez plus d'informations sur cette annonce dans le communiqué de presse ci-dessous en anglais.
GameOn announces a joint-initiative of the Dutch Government and leading entrepreneurs within the games sector in the Netherlands
The GameOn programme will be focused on investing in and accelerating growth in the Dutch games industry with the creation of a €10m fund
11 February, 2014 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands - GameOn, a newly formed games investment fund, announces its launch today at Casual Connect, a European event for the casual games industry taking place in Amsterdam. The fund's mission is to fuel the rapidly growing games sector in the Netherlands by investing in gaming start-ups with differentiated IP and business models. GameOn will target early-stage companies in the games ecosystem from The Netherlands and also from across the globe who are interested in establishing a presence in The Netherlands. The fund is being managed by a group of game industry and finance entrepreneurs who have over 50 years of gaming industry experience between them.
"The games industry is evolving rapidly, with games companies and infrastructure providers constantly tweaking their content and business models to get an edge in the grab of the elusive consumers" says Reinout te Brake, Founding Partner at GameOn. "The industry is highly democratized and the current distribution models and game development tools make it relatively easy and inexpensive for developers to launch games. But as "free-to-play" becomes the primary business model, developers also need a strong understanding of how first to get their games discovered and then how to monetize them successfully. We have a tremendous pool of talented and creative designers in the Netherlands, but they are mostly working for hire, and so we need to learn and build on our games monetization knowledge. Our aim is to bring together people with this monetization and marketing knowledge along with the financial opportunity and creative talent to achieve explosive growth here in the Netherlands in this crucial sector." te Brake has been a serial entrepreneur, most recently founding iQU, one of the leading games marketing companies. He is currently the Managing Partner at GWC Investments, a consultancy and seed investment firm for the gaming industry.
The initiative is being supported by the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, as gaming is a crucial part of one of its identified Top Sectors, the creative industry. In addition, the fund will receive direct assistance from the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), an operational unit of the ministry. GameOn and the NFIA will work together in attracting foreign gaming entertainment companies to set up business in the Netherlands. This approach fits in perfectly with NFIA's Digital Gateway to Europe Project, which is aiming to bring foreign ICT companies to the Netherlands.
Valerie Frissen, director of ClickNL, supports the initiatives of Game On with great enthusiasm. "In CLICKNL - the network where the research and knowledge worlds connect with the creative industry - Games is one of the most vital areas in which public-private partnerships can take place in many ways. There have been many beautiful projects put in motion and there's still a lot in the pipeline. The growth within the game sector - as seen by everyone as very promising- and scaling up interesting innovations is a high priority at CLICKNL. In that light, I see our future cooperation with GameOn as promising and I support this initiative wholeheartedly."
Carolien Gehrels, municipal executive board member in Amsterdam, adds: "In the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, more than one hundred national and international game companies are established. These companies mainly develop online entertainment games and applied (serious) games. The MRA is a hotspot for attracting international talent and a test bed for developing prototypes and new game concepts. There are already several programs specifically aimed at games and we see more great opportunities to build on these efforts. If games in the MRA succeed then the chances of further international growth are good. With GameOn, the MRA wants to increase its level playing field and strengthen its position in Europe as a regional player."
Korrie Louwes, deputy mayor for Innovation City of Rotterdam, states: "Educational institutions in Rotterdam, from vocational education to (applied) science and arts, are fine tuning their classes and studies to the specific needs in the games industry. We see opportunity for these institutions and GameOn to collaborate and team up with our talented business, design and tech students and alumni with innovative game entrepreneurs and investors."
According to Jan Nieuwenburg, municipal executive board member Economic Affairs in Haarlem: "GameOn is a high potential program to land very interesting game businesses in the Netherlands as well. Haarlem, creative centerpiece of the Metropolitan Area, is very enthusiastic about the initiative and wants to support it within its capabilities to make it successful."
In addition to the government, GameOn is working with partners in the areas of accountancy, legal, education, IT, PR, distribution, facilities, housing, analytics and business strategy. Ilja Linnemeijer, Partner at PwC, states: "GameOn is addressing the challenges we see and have seen along the years, taking away a stumbling block for further growth in The Netherlands through giving access to capital by investors that understand the entertainment gaming industry, its business models and fast developments as well as building bridges between the different stakeholders with an aim to build a strong Dutch industry capitalizing on its unique skills."
GameOn is launching Dutch Game Fund I this quarter, with an initial total commitment of €10 million in risk capital. GameON is aiming to collect approximately 50% through Dutch public entities, including applications for innovation subsidies. The balance will be from private investors. Subsequent funding rounds are planned for the following year.
About GameOn
GameOn is an early-stage investment programme whose goal is to accelerate growth of the online and mobile games industry in the Netherlands. The founders are a group of successful, passionate entrepreneurs - with over 50 years of experience in the games industry - who will identify, support, and invest in the most exciting and innovative game start-ups who want to take advantage of everything that GameOn and the Netherlands has to offer.