Mfuse Gets £1.55-Million Boost from Blandford

Mobile gambling technology provider Mfuse has raised £2.55 million through a round of fundraising, the proceeds of which derive primarily from Internet gambling pioneer Mark Blandford, who joins the company as non-executive director.

Blandford's investment in the company totals £1.55 million. Mfuse said Blandford's appointment to its board of directors will provide the company with access to Blandford's "significant knowledge of and contact base in the gaming industry."

Blandford founded Sportingbet in 1997 after a successful career in bricks-and-mortar bookmaking in the United Kingdom. In January 2001 Sportingbet floated on London's Alternative Investment Market, and in 2002 Blandford was voted the Alternative Investment Market's entrepreneur of the year.

"Mobile functionality is still in its infancy and there is a very significant opportunity available to those with the technology and vision to facilitate the inevitable expansion of services and applications," said Blandford. "Mfuse have the fundamentals in place and I look forward to working with their team in this crucial period of their corporate development."

Bestport Ventures LLP, the original investors in Mfuse, have injected an additional £850,000 into the business.

Mfuse said the new funding will provide working capital to expand its product offering and geographical reach. Specifically, part of the new capital has been allocated for further development and marketing of its mobile casino. At present, sports betting through blue chip partners such as Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, Bet365, Stan James and Paddy Power represent the bulk of the company's business.

Mfuse was incorporated in 2002 to "exploit the opportunities presented by the increase in mobile phones and the variety of activities they will be used for over the coming years." The company seeks to "enable businesses to deploy mobile transactional services across multiple devices and in multiple territories."

"Since our inception, we have continually expanded our client base and feel that now is the appropriate time to scale up the business in order to cater for the inevitable increase in mobile phone activity as the capability of technology begins to catch up with user demand," said chief executive Marcus Wareham.