TIDMBLU
RNS Number : 6743U
Blue Star Capital plc
27 November 2023
27 November 2023
Blue Star Capital plc
("Blue Star" or the "Company")
Dynasty Update
Blue Star Capital plc (AIM: BLU), the investing company with a
focus on esports and blockchain and its applications within gaming
and payments, provides the following update following information
received from its investee company, Dynasty Gaming & Media Pte
Ltd ("Dynasty").
Dynasty advises that it has recently completed a fundraise by
way of a Convertible Loan of US$3 million which, in conjunction
with its move from technology supplier to operator and significant
cost reductions, should fund it to breakeven with free cash flow
generation by no later than July 2024. In addition, Dynasty also
announces a proposed merger with Googly Media Pte Ltd
("Googly").
Operational Highlights
Dynasty's original business plan was to provide its gaming
platform to large telecoms companies, for which it initially had
much success, contracting with large telecoms companies including
STC, Maxis and Spark which generated fixed monthly licence fee
income. However, Dynasty advises that operational complexities,
including the need to support several different and highly
customised platforms, led to a pivot to focus on launching B2C
platforms with more strategically aligned and complementary
partners and in the process, maintaining control of its products
and contact with the end users. As a result of extensive technology
development during the period since, Dynasty's platform has now
moved to a single code base, meaning time to launch in new markets
has been reduced from at least nine months to one month.
Dynasty has stated that their management team believes it has
built the leading and most comprehensive gaming/esports platform
globally, which combines the following features, licences, and
accreditations in one single platform:
-- Enterprise grade international esports tournament engine
accredited and endorsed by major international games publishers
including Riot, Activision and Supercell to run professional
leagues and mass market grassroots esports feeder leagues.
-- The only enterprise grade esports platform and gaming shop:
o that supports international standard professional esports
tournaments for both PC and Mobile games, the world's fastest
growing gaming sector;
o that is optimised for key hyper-growth 'mobile first' markets.
Dynasty optimised its mobile experience to 30MB, perfect for mobile
first markets such as India, Africa, SEA and LATAM;
o that incorporates a payment wallet, subscription engine,
digital voucher and top up shop, with full security
accreditation;
o that can deliver and launch a fully branded, fully functional
partner platform within 4 weeks. This has been enabled by a single
code cloud-based code structure.
-- Full customer relationship management campaign engine to
increase monetisation and engagement.
-- Unique User Generated Tournament engine (UGT) that allows
users to create entry fee and prize pool tournaments, sharing in
platform monetisation. Patent pending.
-- The only enterprise grade esports and gaming shop with an AI
Academy, allowing players to improve in game performance.
Dynasty now has live B2C platforms in several key gaming markets
including Googly in India, Lets Play Live in Australia and New
Zealand and Paidia Gaming in North America. Further details on
these platforms are summarised below:
-- Googly: Dynasty advises that India is the world's fastest
growing gaming market, with over 750million gamers forecast in the
country by the end of 2026, spending more than US$6.7billion. By
most metrics, the rate of growth in gaming in India is more than
double the average of the rest of the world - this includes more
mature, slower growth markets like North America and Europe, but
also accelerating regions such as Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The future growth of gaming in India will continue to be almost
entirely driven by mobile, fuelled by a young population of digital
natives, increasing wealth, and mass smartphone adoption. Googly's
platform offering provides India's gamers a diverse, immersive
experience, catering to all levels of casual and competitive
gaming, including - leaderboards, live broadcasts, engaging
content, unique user-generated prizepool tournaments, and a market
leading games shop. Initial traction has been encouraging and
discussions are progressing with a number of strategic
partners.
-- Lets Play Live: The platform was launched in June 2023 with
the Company's 50/50 JV partner Lets Play Live, the region's leading
tournament organiser and gaming content creator. Within the first
six months of operation, the platform has already become Oceania's
largest and most successful gaming platform with over 420,000
users. Major official publisher-led national and regional
tournaments secured with an extensive calendar scheduled throughout
2024 for leading games titles including Valorant, Fortnite, and
Clash Royale.
-- Paidia: is a female focussed gaming platform with a highly
engaged and fast-growing community. Major strategic partnerships
have already been signed with leading brands including e.l.f.
Cosmetics, Razer, and Xbox.
Outside of these live platforms, Dynasty have also announced
that they are on schedule to launch in the Philippines in early
December 2023 under the platform brand "Lightning Dragon" with a
major media conglomerate as its partner. The Philippines is one of
Southeast Asia's largest and fastest growing gaming markets, and
like India, predominantly favours mobile gaming. With significant
partners already secured, Lightning Dragon is set to become the
default home of gaming in the Philippines. Dynasty is also
progressing further platform opportunities in Indonesia, Africa and
the Gulf.
Prospective merger with Googly
Dynasty further advises that, as a result of working
increasingly closely with Googly on opportunities in India during
the last 12 months, and with the prospects of extending the
collaboration into further countries, the boards of both companies
consider their prospects are best achieved through an equal merger.
Further details of this potential merger will be disclosed as the
transaction develops, with shareholder approval anticipated before
the end of 2023.
Dynasty Fund raise
As part of the US$3 million fundraise undertaken by Dynasty, the
Company has invested $75,000 immediately and has an option to
invest a further $75,000. The Convertible Loan has a two year
expiry period, is non-interest bearing and converts at a discount
of 50 per cent to Dynasty's next funding round. The fund raise was
supported by existing shareholders with two new strategic investors
participating.
Blue Star has been an investor in Dynasty since 2019 and has a
shareholding of 13 per cent pre conversion of the Loan note.
Additionally, the Company holds 0.6% of Googly.
Tony Fabrizi, Executive Chairman of Blue Star Capital said,
"Like many early-stage businesses, Dynasty's management have needed
to adapt their business model as the opportunity and market
conditions have evolved. We are fully supportive of the Company's
recent decisions and believe Dynasty's dual focus on building a
highly scalable business in India, the fastest growing gaming
market globally, as well as partnering with strategic partners in
other regions will optimise the value of Dynasty's tech
platform."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company
are responsible for the release of this announcement.
For further information, please contact:
Blue Star Capital plc +44 (0) 777 178 2434
Tony Fabrizi
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP +44 (0) 20 7213 0880
(Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Jo Turner / Liam Murray
About Blue Star
Blue Star is an investing company with a focus on new
technologies. Blue Star has two principal investments: SatoshiPay
Limited, an incubator and service provider to de-fi businesses
using blockchain technology; and Dynasty Gaming & Media Pte.
Ltd.,
About Dynasty
Dynasty is widely recognised as the industry leader in the
development of digital platform ecosystems for mass-market gaming.
With over 8,000 tournaments completed, 500,000 tournament
participants, and over US$10million in platform-related revenue
generated, Dynasty has significant momentum and a global
presence.
Forward looking statement disclaimer
Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical
facts but rather are based on the Company's current expectations,
estimates, and projections about its industry; its beliefs; and
assumptions. Words such as 'anticipates,' 'expects,' 'intends,'
'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'estimates,' and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject
to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some
of which are beyond the Company's control, are difficult to
predict, and could cause actual results to differ materially from
those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements.
The Company cautions shareholders and prospective shareholder
holders not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which reflect the view of the Company only as of the
date of this announcement. The forward-looking statements made in
this announcement relate only to events as of the date on which the
statements are made. The Company will not undertake any obligation
to release publicly any revisions or updates to these
forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances, or
unanticipated events occurring after the date of this announcement
except as required by law or by any appropriate regulatory
authority.
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