REG - Blue Star Capital - Dynasty Update

Blue Star CapitalAnnouncement

27/11/2023 07:00

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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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