Australian slot supply giant Aristocrat Leisure Limited is planning to invest in tech startups in India, in areas outside its core gaming business, specifically those seeking Series B, C and D funding, the company’s chief financial officer told the Deccan Herald newspaper.
Fusion Labs’ Tania Darvell, who is helping Aristocrat operationalize its strategy, told the newspaper the company will to partner with key players in the Indian startup ecosystem.
“The Indian ecosystem is full of opportunity, with deep technology capabilities, combined with startup founders who are well-educated and passionate to succeed,” said Darvell.
Aristocrat CFO Toni Korsanos added, “Aristocrat is a proudly innovative company, and this new innovation function will be focused exclusively on technologies that sit outside Aristocrat’s core gaming business while utilizing their existing local tech talent.
“Aristocrat has a strong land-based casino gaming business as well as a chart-topping social casino gaming app (Heart of Vegas). Aristocrat knows how to make great game content and technology, and we believe those skills are highly transferable to other verticals, such as edutech, for example.”
Korsanos added that in addition to accelerating internal ideas, Aristocrat will be making investments and exploring mergers and acquisitions, partnering with leading VCs and sourcing opportunities independently.
“Aristocrat is prepared to consider a wide variety of opportunities, and to assess each on a case by case basis,” Korsanos told the newspaper. “In addition, Aristocrat is looking for great founders who have a clear path, whose businesses have strong problem/solution fit and demonstrated signs of traction, where we can help them significantly scale with both investment and potential talent capability. We are also looking for experienced staff to lead the accelerator side of the function, and great investment and merger and acquisition talent.
“We are looking at expanding horizons into new operations in line with the changes in ecosystem and culture. We are also looking at how we can assist in solving significant challenges in India right now. It’s an exciting time to be entering the market, and we look forward to partnering and collaborating.”
