ABOUT
BACKGROUND
Who are Valhalla Investments Inc?
Mark Blandford started his industry career with a single betting shop in 1984, growing the bricks and mortar business into a small regional chain across the West Midlands and South Wales before selling out to Tote Bookmakers in 1997. Realising the potential for online sports betting, Mark founded SportingBet PLC in 1998 and quickly grew it to become one of the largest online sports betting companies in the world.
Mark left Sportingbet in 2007 to focus on VC investing and founded Valhalla Investments Inc alongside other investment vehicles that now make up the Blandford Family Office. Given Mark’s extensive gaming industry knowledge the portfolio has achieved over 30 successful exits and the current IRR of the portfolio is in excess of 30%*.
In 2020 Mark’s daughter Sophie, who has over 8 years’ experience in investment banking and private equity investing, joined the family business and together with a small team are responsible for sourcing new investment opportunities and supporting existing portfolio companies.
*IRR measured as at October 2021
PORTFOLIO
Valhalla’s portfolio currently has over 50 active investments across the Gaming & Support Services, PropTech, EdTech, AgriTech, FinTech, Marketplaces & Platforms alongside companies that offer high growth potential in niche markets.
Gaming
Performance marketing business for online gambling
BeBettor
Data science company focussed on responsible gaming
Burlywood Capital
A co-owned boutique investment house focussing on digital pay2play opportunities
Gaming Realms
Innovative real money and social game publisher
Rainbow Casinos
UK Land based casino chain based in Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol
Marketplaces/Platforms
Add2Event
Online platform that connects event organisers with professional suppliers
Interactive Investor
UK’s number one flat-fee investment platform providing investment information and guidance
OnBuy
UK Online marketplace with millions of products from thousands of online retailers
Rest Easy Group
UK’s best online accommodation marketplaces dedicated to cottages, hotels, lodges and villa holidays. Brands include Snaptrip, Laterooms and BigCottages
Wejo
Industry-leading car data marketplace connecting leading automotive manufactures with real-time connected vehicle data
Wise Alpha
Fractionalises corporate bonds to provide a leading digital corporate bond market for retail investors
AgriTech
DroneAg
automates leaf-level crop data collection using drones and uses AI to provide real-time analysis to farmers and agronomists
Hectare Agritech
Platform powers agricultural supply chains, inventory management and marketplaces to drive efficiency in agriculture. Brands include SellMyLiveStock and Graindex
Small Robot Company
Uses robotics and AI to provide per plant intelligence and per plant actions to increase sustainable and profitable farming
PropTech
Pupil
AI driven real estate measurement and spatial data company
Sturents
UK’s largest marketing and tenancy management platform for student property
EdTech
Kortext
Online learning platform providing over 2m digital text books and learning content to universities
Pi-Top CEED
Provides build it yourself Raspberry Pi based computers and software for learning code
FinTech
Asset Lending ZA
Provides second hand vehicle dealers with rapid access to cash to increase buying power
City Falcon
Integrated financial news feed powered by machine learning
Flexidrive
South African based rent to own vehicle facility providing customers an alternative to buying or leasing
Content Cal
Social media planning and publishing tool
Cloudhouse
Technology offers high quality, scalable packaging services to partners, customers and Systems Integrators
Hilditch Group
UK’s leading online auction site for used medical equipment
Other
Playful Promises
Multi-brand online lingerie and swimwear manufacturer and retailerr
Shopworks
Workforce management system with FastPAYE solution providing employees early access to earned income through its flexible wage app
Unicompare
Provides students with the ability to search for over 36,000 different courses across 425+ institutions
Vitesse
Secure payments processing platform
TRACK RECORD
Valhalla has achieved over 30 exits since inception with notable successes listed below
Sportingbet
Mark founded the business, one of the first online gambling websites, in 1998. Sportingbet achieved a market cap in excess of £2bn in 2005. Mark stepped down from board in 2007 to persue a full time role as a Venture Capital Investor
Envoy Services Ltd
Provider of alternative payment solutions to eCommerce merchants. Sold to Worldpay in 2011
FSB Technology
Online sportsbook and casino turnkey platform business. Canadian based Private Equity firm ClairvestGroup took a majority stake in the business in 2019. As part of the transaction Mark remained as Chairman, rolling part of his investment
Fairstone
The acquisitive full-service wealth management and chartered financial planning firm was sold to global private equity house TA Associates in early 2021
Virgin Wines
Backed the 2013 management buy-out of the online wine retailer. Investment was realised when the business listed on AIM in March 2021.
Teamsport
Participated in the 1st Management BuyOut of Teamsport, The UK’s largest indoor Go-Kart track operator, alongside Connection Capital generating a 4x return in just over 4 years.
Bit8
Online gaming platform acquired by Intralot in 2015
Ethoca
Fraud and chargeback protection technology. Acquired by Mastercard in 2019