As of today, WHLabs and their partner and co-investor L Marks will support the innovative start-ups for three months, with the aim of helping the teams deliver compelling new in-store, online or omni-channel customer experiences. Each of the five companies accepted into the final programme will receive an upfront investment of £25,000, along with 12 weeks of mentoring support and office space at WHLabs in Shoreditch and Tel Aviv.
Selected from over 250 applications worldwide, the winner will be announced on 11th January at a special showcase dinner in London, with legendary jockey AP McCoy awarding one lucky company with a further £150,000 investment. The five finalists are:
Asylum Labs (USA): The world’s most social bingo game, Wild Part Bingo. The technology, ArcLight, allows for full interoperability of synchronous interactions between millions of users
BetGame (UK): A simple way for online gamers and e-sports fans to bet with their friends and the wider community
Skillzzgaming (Tel Aviv): Games that connect the experience of casual games and the thrill of luck
Streetlike (UK): IoT rewards software for touchscreen digital signage to give customers a more engaging in-store experience
Winkapp (Tel Aviv): Technology that bridges the offline and online to create a new world of user engagement
William Hill’s Director of Corporate Development and Innovation, Crispin Nieboer, commented: “As an industry-first initiative, the interest in the accelerator programme has been outstanding. The finalists were chosen based on their potential to deliver the biggest advances in the customer experience in the gambling industry, and we will be supporting the start-ups through strategic relationships, personal mentoring and access to William Hill’s APIs. We’re looking forward to working closely with all of the finalists to create products that can truly disrupt the market.”
Stuart Marks, Chairman at L Marks also commented: “Israel and the UK are renowned for their start-up communities and, after a rigorous selection process, we have no doubt that all of the five finalists have the potential to be worthy winners at the end of the programme. WHLabs is offering these start-ups a fantastic opportunity to help their business ideas come to fruition, as well as cementing William Hill’s position as a company at the forefront of technological development in the betting industry.”
