Pulse
INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY MARK BLANDFORD
“I think data bears similarities to being the new gold insofar as is it has a value that we're only just beginning to understand. The data is the gold dust and platforms such as that offered by Scout enable productisation to take place through turning data into intelligent decision-making tools.”
to know why a bookie would want an anti- fraud solution.
He came over one Saturday morning for a coffee that lasted three hours. I was blown away and it remains one of the most exciting propositions I’ve heard in a long time. Gareth has a huge vision, an impressive background, and a founder team comprising complementary skills. I made what by my standards is a significant investment and things have continued to go well. As such, in a recent investment round I followed my money up with further investment.
Te money is being used to launch new solutions, widen the Scout solution’s capabilities, and to accelerate tech development. Te products that are currently available in the market are not complete, end to end solutions, but are modular. Creating a complete end-to-end data driven solution decision-making toolkit will help our clients, our market appeal, and will make everything far more efficient.
INVESTING IN DATA
I think data bears similarities to being the new gold insofar as is it has a value that we're only just beginning to understand. Tere are a range of potential product areas to be explored across different industry verticals. Te data is the gold dust and platforms such as that offered by Scout enable productisation to take place through turning data into intelligent decision- making tools.
For people of a younger generation, it must seem very strange but many of older generation companies are still stuck with spreadsheets and armies of people, often in low-cost offshore jurisdictions. Part of data's future ‘trajectory,’ if you will, is a greater understanding of the increases in efficiency, not just in cost, but also in speed and accuracy of decision-making, that is now available.
Tere are other product areas we also want to develop. One is an integration-lite solutions where companies can use Scout with internal data sources that are still on spreadsheets. Essentially, we can suck the data out and give clients the responses they want.
Scout can use a range of data solutions and isn’t just an open data source and, where appropriate, we can use an industry-specific data solution. For example, we have integrated some policing related data. We can't sell that data to all and sundry, but we can use it to help
P112 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
However, we don't have boots on the ground there yet and aren't geared up to give 24/7 US time-friendly support. We are aware we need to build this out, so part of the application of the recent funding round is internationalisation and the US is very high on our list of future target markets. In fact, it’s number one.
Te requirements for KYC, source of funds, and the fraud applications are generic across states. GeoComply is a company that began life conducting accurate geolocation compliance checks where gambling was allowed on a specific premises.
Tey have subsequently seen other applications they can offer to their clients and have started to stray into our area. I think Synalogik and GeoComply are complementary to one another, but they are a respected competitor, and we don't have intel on what they might do next. Tey might be looking at our space and they certainly have good market traction across gaming operators in North America.
police forces with their investigations.
Te Scout platform offers increased efficiency for enhanced due diligence. For example, a large gaming operator may get 50,000 applications for new accounts a week. If 4-5,000 fall into a risk category, we can efficiently assist with that without requiring a few hundred people.
When it comes to AML and affordability, this is a more mature market in terms of data. From a Synalogik perspective, there are several good competitors in that area, but we offer this functionality because Scout is designed to be a complete end-to-end solution for clients and I like to think we do this better than anybody.
THE UNITED STATES
Currently, Synalogik is UK-focused. Te primary industry verticals are gaming, policing, insurance, banking, defence, and asset reunification. In gaming, we have three tier one operator clients including Entain who want us to go into the US.
When it comes to my other gaming interests, I'm on the Board of Gaming Realms - a small UK-listed games developer best known for Slingo. Another data driven business in the portfolio with huge potential is Future Anthem. Tey use gameplay data for the purposes of identifying clients at risk of harm or churning using clever algorithms, bringing efficiency to an area that requires improvement.
I’m also involved with beBettor, a niche business offering automated affordability checks using OSINT. Te outcome of the Gambling Act review will be significant for the future direction of the company and the industry, and I expect affordability to be a cornerstone of compliance going forward.
VENTURE CAPITALIST VS THE COALFACE
I think it depends where you are in your career cycle. Being an entrepreneur for the first time with something that is really taking off is super exciting. I couldn't wait to wake up in the morning and see how the overnight trading had been, the progress of different tech projects, planning new market entries. It was genuinely exciting in those days as we were going into relatively virgin markets every few months and localising products, all the while learning as we went.
When I left Sportingbet, my first venture capitalist investment was into a company called Envoy Services. A few years later we sold it for £70m. What a way to convert yourself from being at the coalface! I hasten to add that I was a small shareholder, but it was a great exit for all concerned.
I genuinely do get a satisfaction, not just from a financial perspective, working with young entrepreneurs. Tey are now so tech savvy, smart and have great vision. Sometimes they need help to keep their feet on the ground as they are often armed with ideas but lack operational experience. Tere is nothing more satisfying than seeing them do well when a business exits.
“The Scout platform offers increased efficiency for enhanced due diligence. For example, a large gaming operator may get 50,000 applications for new accounts a week. If 4-5,000 fall into a risk category, we can efficiently assist with that without requiring a few hundred people.”
A BURGEONING GAMING PORTFOLIO
Outside of Synalogik, I’m chairman of FSB Technology - a B2B sports betting provider. We have an American co-founder and chief executive so when the US opened, he understood the culture and structure of the market. I am also chairman of the
Gambling.com Group - a super affiliate within the industry which has two American co-founders. Te US is our largest growing market, and the company is listed on the NASDAQ.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
