ZEAL Ventures and FDJ UNITED Ventures have said they could collaborate again in the future depending on what opportunities the market may present.
The two operators announced yesterday that they have co-invested in Random State, an ilottery and bingo studio, via their respective investment arms.
Investment in Random State will go towards the expansion of its sales and marketing activities, as well as game development. Both operators said they will benefit from a “cutting-edge studio at the forefront of innovation”.
Speaking to EGR, Juliane Gutsmiedl, ZEAL Ventures investment manager, and Maxime Sbeghen, FDJ UNITED Ventures head of investment, said the two firms were interested in the supplier separately before coming together to seal the deal.
Gutsmiedl said the two operators are aligned in their aspirations for Random State, with the possibility of working together again on other investments also being an option.
She said: “It will be a case-by-case decision and there might be overlap. FDJ UNITED Ventures has more of a broader investment scope in that they also invest in technologies that can be applied in the wider gambling ecosystem, such as Web3 or GenAI.
“For us, we tend to have more of a B2C focus: if you look at our current venture investment portfolio, we have four active companies that we are invested in.
“That’s Omaze, Daymade, 7Days Performance and Pick My Postcode, so all B2C businesses. Historically, this is where we could generate more learnings for our core business since we’re also primarily a B2C operator.
“As we grow our own B2B business, ZEAL Instant Games, we saw a great opportunity in investing in Random State to create a mutually beneficial relationship.
“Going forward, we will continue to lean more on the B2C side but are open to exceptions where it makes sense.
“We might be a bit narrower in terms of the investment strategy but if the opportunity arises, then, based on the great experience to date, we would definitely be open to doing another deal with FDJ UNITED.”
EGR understands that ZEAL’s investments range typically from between €350,000 to €1m, while FDJ UNITED Venture’s commitments sit between €300,000 and €3m, depending on the maturity of startups.
FDJ UNITED Ventures has, directly or indirectly, invested €70m in startups at the time of writing, including €25m into AI-focused businesses.
Agreeing with Gutsmiedl, Sbeghen added that it would also depend on whether it would be better to not only invest separately but also revise their goals for the organisation.
He added: “It will depend on the opportunities on the market. We are the strategic fund of the FDJ UNITED Group and our mission is mostly to detect, fund and support startups that will help FDJ UNITED innovate.
“It will definitely depend on the opportunities and goals that we want to assess together or separately.”
With future collaboration a possibility, Sbeghen noted that the immediate focus for the two operators is ensuring Random State gets the help it needs to grow and develop.
The FDJ UNITED Ventures head of investment noted: “We want to create a win-win relationship between FDJ UNITED and Random State. We will push hard trying to help the startup grow faster, notably by giving them a privileged access to our assets, expertise and ecosystem.”
“This is the main topic that we have to realign with ZEAL. We have a different strategy, different operations in different market, etc, but we have a pretty good relationship to handle all these kind of topics for the group.”
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Operator’s investment arms, ZEAL Ventures and FDJ UNITED Ventures, tell EGR that working together again is an option, but it will be decided on a case-by-case basis
The post ZEAL and FDJ Ventures open to future collaborations following Random State backing first appeared on EGR Intel.