Totalizator Sportowy and ffVC Launch VC Fund for Gaming Start-ups

Polish state-owned operator Totalizator Sportowy has partnered with American enterprise capital fund ffVC to invest in gaming start-ups.

The ffVC Tech & Gaming fund shall be used to spend money on 10-15 start-ups by the end of 2023, mainly in Poland and other Eastern European countries.

Companies are anticipated to obtain between PLN1m ($271,000) and PLN8m of their first funding, although subsequent investments could also be as excessive as PLN15m.

Olgierd Cieślik, president of the administration board of Totalizator Sportowy, stated working with promising new companies was a vital step for the way forward for the operator.

“Persevering with the technological transformation of Totalizator Sportowy requires us not solely to cooperate with the worldwide giants of the gaming market, but in addition to be open to the implementation of services and products offered by younger revolutionary corporations, together with Polish startups,” Cieślik stated.

“We hope that [this support] will deliver us all nice advantages and, above all, the opportunity of additional progress.”

John Frankel, founder and associate of ffVC, stated he was excited to increase his fund’s work to Poland.

“We’re glad that we are able to increase our enterprise and begin investing in Poland,” Frankel stated.

“We’ve got created a robust worldwide group to seek for the very best Polish corporations that, due to the assistance of ffVC and Totalizator Sportowy, have an opportunity to turn out to be leaders of their industries.

“The enterprise capital market in Poland has been creating dynamically for years and we consider that the market is getting into the section of improvement, after which Polish startups will obtain a world scale of operations.”

Frankel will handle the fund alongside three different ffVC companions: US-based Adam Plotkin and Poland-based Mariusz Adamski and Maciej Skarul.

“We wish to help the event of revolutionary and ground-breaking Polish corporations by utilizing ffVC’s relations with strategic companions akin to Totalizator Sportowy and serving to Polish corporations to increase internationally, particularly to the USA,” Adamski stated.

The fund was established underneath the Polish Growth Fund (PFR) and the Nationwide Middle for Analysis and Growth’s Company Enterprise Capital programme.

“We’re introducing a brand new CVC fund to the Polish market, centered on industries which – as we see in our different packages and initiatives – very successfully take in R&D funding, turning it into merchandise with potential for worldwide commercialisation,” Przemysław Kurczewski, deputy director of the Nationwide Middle for Analysis and Growth, stated.

Maciej Ćwikiewicz, president of PFR Ventures, added that gaming companies supply main curiosity amongst buyers and so such a fund made sense.

“Skilled recreation producers entice huge curiosity on the Warsaw Inventory Alternate, and now simply beginning research and tasks can depend on various capital,” Ćwikiewicz stated.