Competitive start-ups again a feature of EiG

Clarion Gaming has announced the contestants in Start-up LaunchPad, organised as part of the 8th European iGaming Congress and Expo, taking place on 15-17 September in Copenhagen, Denmark.
By attending this unique Dragon’s Den style session on 15 September, the conference attendees will be among the first to receive a unique insight into innovative, and often competitive, propositions being developed by e-gaming entrepreneurs eager to enter the market and challenge the incumbents. As competition in the market heats up, Start-up LaunchPad will offer EiG’s senior level audience the opportunity to assess the start-ups’ competitive advantage or evaluate the potential for partnership or investment.
With Start-Up LaunchPad, EiG continues its tradition as a platform for launching new companies and for raising investment. Voted one of the most popular conference sessions at EiG 2008, LaunchPad will allow the selected start-ups to present their ventures to a panel of experts and investors, and to the EiG delegates, who will then vote to choose the winner.
This year’s LaunchPad will bring sports, casino and poker projects to light, thus appealing to all corners of the e-gaming industry.
David McKenzie of Tailorbet, an automated service that allows users to create customised bets on anything statistically quantifiable in sports, and Stefan Mattsson of Jacky Betting, an innovative sports pool offering that has been gathering media coverage far and wide, will present their fresh approach to peer-to-peer and social media trends in sports betting.
Tailorbet CEO David McKenzie, says: “EiG Launchpad will give us a platform to not only showcase Tailorbet, but interact and receive feedback from the many experienced professionals that will be present. Our team is looking forward to experiencing EiG in Copenhagen.”
Fredrik Elmqvist, Founder and CEO of Jacky Betting, comments: “As an independent start-up in this industry, EiG Launchpad presents a great opportunity. It’s a great honour just to have been nominated.”
Attendees with an interest in the online casino sector should make sure they don’t miss out on the presentation by USM’s Kevin Mikkelsen whose new operator-to-operator casino software technology will fundamentally challenge current business models and offer an alternative to gaming operators of all sizes. And those interested in the poker business will get a chance to hear MasterGrinders’ Stephane Lecocq pitch a retention-boosting and community-based affiliate platform for mass multi-table poker players.
Kevin Mikkelsen, CEO of USM, explains:“Having worked on the inside of a major e-gaming operator myself, it was a no-brainer to choose the platform from where to present our new company to the world: At the EiG Launchpad you don’t just talk the talk but also walk the walk with everybody who’s anybody in the industry. Launchpad is to e-gaming start-ups what Cape Canerval is to the space shuttle.”
To evaluate the start-ups, Clarion Gaming has invited leading investors and venture capital experts who will probe contestants on the niche markets they are targeting and the uniqueness of the value proposition to customers, plus further development plans and business projections.
The expert panel includes Mark Blandford, Chairman of Valhalla Investments and Founder of Sportingbet; Alistair Assheton, President of VIP.com and investor on the lookout for compelling new ideas; seasoned venture capitalist, Adam Valkin, Head of Digital Media and New Business Development, Endemol; LaunchPad 2008 winner, Dave McDowell, CEO of FSB Tech and Simon Holliday, Director, H2 Gambling Capital who will moderate the session.
In an exclusive interview with Clarion Gaming, Blandford urged contestants to do their research diligently and thoroughly so as to convince the judges that they truly understand the opportunity, the marketplace and the requirements of that marketplace.
“Keep it simple; keep to the core of the opportunity,” he advises. “The other thing we are looking for is people, their background, their CVs, their references, the relevance of any experience, why they believe that they are the people that can lead a new start-up to success.”
Start-up LaunchPad will take place at the Betta Center in Copenhagen on the 15th September from 15.25-16.45.

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