SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Updating the market, ZEAL Investments the ‘seed stage’ investment arm of online B2C lottery operator ZEAL Networks has announced that it has partnered with MassChallenge UK an early stage start-up accelerator program.
The partnership will give the ZEAL Investments team the opportunity to scout amongst the UK’s best technology and innovation start-ups, as ZEAL seeks to bring new ideas to the global lottery market.
James Oakes, Director of ZEAL Investments commented on the partnership: “With only 5% of the $250bn lottery market currently played online, there is a huge opportunity for the industry to fully digitise and become a relevant part of peoples’ online and mobile lives.”
Working with MassChallenge UK, Zeal investments has already hosted its first start-up ‘Demo-day’ on 11 October. The co-hosted event saw nine start-ups pitch their early stage business propositions to ZEAL leaders.
Zeal detailed that it would be hosting its second event with MassChallenge in early 2017. Christine Thoma, Head of Strategy at ZEAL Investments, added:
“Our partnership with MassChallenge UK will help us to identify startups with unique ideas that can move the industry forward. With so many innovations happening in other industries, we are excited to see what can be brought to life in the lottery sector!”
“The knowledge and experience James and Christine bring from ZEAL Investments is incredibly beneficial to our startups” commented Diane Perlman, Chief Marketing Officer at MassChallenge.
“ZEAL Investments’ strategic and entrepreneurial experience alone makes them very valuable partners to work with.”
