Cashcade co-founders Simon Collins and Patrick Southon are to launch a new listed online gambling and social gaming business, following a reverse takeover of AIM-listed Pursuit Dynamics.
Gaming Realms, set up by Collins, Southon, Michael Buckley and fellow Cashcade veteran Noel Rowse earlier this year, has been acquired by the Cambridge-based tech company for £12.1m, with Pursuit Dynamics proposing new management “with extensive experience in online gaming” and a name change to Gaming Realms.
Two other businesses are also being bought and rolled into Gaming Realms as part of the transaction – social gaming business BeJig and mobile gambling operator AlchemyBet .
Both BeJig, which runs the Avatingo app on Facebook, and AlchemyBet received investment from NewGame Capital, the online gaming-focused VC fund advised by Collins and Southon and backed by bwin.party, which bought Collins and Southon’s previous business Cashcade – operator of the Foxy and Cheeky bingo brands - for £95.9m back in 2009.
Gaming Realms is also set to launch new online bingo site Bingo Godz in August or September, running on software developed by industry newcomer Bede Gaming. Bede is headed up by another Cashcade alumni, Michael Brady, working alongside Crown Bingo’s Joe Saumarez Smith (chairman) and Dan Smyth (COO).
Pursuit Dynamics (PDX on AIM) has announced a £3.4m share placing to help fund the acquisition. Shareholders still have to give approval for the deal at a meeting to be held on 31 July.
Article written by Katy Stirland
