Mel Morris, the creator of Candy Crush, is still the biggest private investor in and former chairman of games developer King.com. The company floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and was bought by Activision Blizzard in 2016, with Morris delivering a successful $5.9bn exit. And now, it seems, he’s up for finding some sweet firms to invest in.
In June 2016, Morris set his eyes on home entertainment system firm Entotem. The company spent two years developing “Plato”, a device which records from DVD, video, and cassette players and then replays at a high resolution. It is designed as a media management system, allowing people to store their music and film collections in one place.
Possibly one of the biggest draws to the company was that over the past year it had been working with UK Trade & Investment to export its product around Europe.
Explaining his decision to invest, Morris said: “Entotem have created a highly impressive and versatile product set that enables users to combine their vinyl and digital music collection. This is achieved whilst maintaining the quality and character of vinyl recordings but offering the same convenience and manageability of today’s digital world. Users with large vinyl collections will love their unique high quality up load services which makes using Plato fast, simple and highly rewarding.
“Entotem’s attention to detail and obsession with quality and hi fidelity is evident to be seen and heard. It is a great team, with great products and services and I am delighted to be involved.”
Find out which other firms recently gained investment:
- Deliveroo guzzles 275m Series E investment
- David Haye provides recruitment app a fighting chance with 2.65m seed round
- Andy Murray turns attention to cycling , dogs and beauty in trio of investments
But it’s not the only tech firm to garner Morris’ attention and it didn’t take long for him to invest.
Adthenaprovides search marketers with detailed competitive market insights, enabling them to acquire more customers from insights about their competitors activities. And ithas secured 2m in funding, which it says will boost its growth across the UK and Australia, as well as help it expand across the US, Germany and France.
As part of the investment, Morris will sit on its board, bringing along his experience as the former chairman of King.com.
TheCandy Crushentrepreneursaid: With search marketing spend making up on average 50 per cent of marketing spend, there is a clear market opportunity for Adthena with their patented technology to provide marketers with a unique whole market view?.
“Adthena has proven market traction in the UK and Australia, with over 120 customers, and the investment will enable them to expand into new markets and exploit the $83 bn search marketing opportunity.
Meanwhile, Tyrrells, the maker of fine English crisps , has been part of a transatlantic deal to get acquired by Texas-based Amplify Snack Brands for 300m.
