Vickers Capital Group makes significant investment in Matchmove Games

SINGAPORE: Matchmove Games, Singapore-based online games service provider has received a substantial investment from Vickers Capital Group, a leading private equity firm - with offices in Singapore and Shanghai - that targets entrepreneurial cutting-edge investment opportunities on a global scale.

Matchmove Games' online game distribution platform is aimed at the Southeast Asian market, offering hundreds of the most globally popular casual games, including titles from leading global publishers PopCap Games, Alawar Entertainment, and Playrix Entertainment.

"Our investment in Matchmove Games shows the enormous potential we see in the online casual and social gaming market in Asia," says Dr. Finian Tan, Chairman, Vickers Capital Group. "We believe that their recently announced partnership with Yahoo! Southeast Asia, and upcoming deals with other major regional portals, puts them in an excellent position to rapidly become the region's dominant player in the casual games industry."

"The investment by the Vickers Capital Group affirms the strength of our business strategy in bringing casual and social gaming to an even wider audience across the Asian region," says Shailesh Naik, CEO of Matchmove Games. "The capital infusion will give us the resources to invest in the very best technology, attract leading talent and expand even faster into other territories. We are also particularly excited about having access to the significant global network and outstanding investment record of the Vickers partners, especially in China and the US. We got exactly what we were looking for in an investor: capital and global capability."

While terms of the deal were not revealed, Matchmove advised that two partners from Vickers, Dr. Finian Tan and Dr. Jeff Chi will join its Board of Directors.

Matchmove Games' current focus is on Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - countries that are among the fastest growing in the world in terms of internet penetration and mobile phone uptake. Naik adds that the infusion of funds will allow Matchmove to invest in local language production and localization of game content, enabling the company to pursue more partnerships with local portals and local game developers, thus reaching deeper into the online consumer groups across Southeast Asia.