Telstra Ventures game for tech transition

Telstra’s independent venture capital arm is expanding its investments in ‘gamification’ technologies.

Telstra Ventures San-Francisco based general partner Yash Patel. Picture: Drew Bird

Telstra’s independent venture capital arm backed by US private equity heavyweight HarbourVest is expanding its investments in “gamification” technologies as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the world has dramatically accelerated the transition of gaming usage into mainstream daily living.

Telstra Ventures, which has been focused on identifying consumer sectors within interactive media that are ripe for disruption, recently led a $US7m ($10.3m) funding round for Toronto-based wellness platform FitOn, which applies the mechanics used in gaming to personal fitness, offering quick workouts from celebrity trainers.

“These guys were thinking like a game studio when we talked about investing in them,’’ Telstra Ventures San-Francisco based general partner Yash Patel said.

“FitOn is all about gamifying digital Fitbits. They wanted to democratise access for everyone and make it fun and social, highly interactive and charge a premium subscription for those who love the product.” Since COVID-19, FitOn has seen a 200 per cent growth in workouts, sign-ups and friends working out together, with 60 million workout minutes taken last month alone.

Early last month the company officially launched a partnership with global dieting giant Weight Watchers, which will promote FitOn across its 5 million subscribers worldwide.

Mr Patel said the FitOn investment was part of Telstra Venture’s wider belief that “gaming is eating the world” and the mechanics and science involved in producing great digital games was expanding into many consumer sectors.

“We want to grow our broader consumer investing portfolio to the extent that it could be 40-50 per cent of the portfolio in the ­future,’’ he said. “We are seeing gaming come to the mainstream. COVID has really accelerated user behaviours.”

Gurpreet Ghuliani, Telstra Ventures head of strategic synergy, said the firm was seeing the growing need for larger enterprises to tap into the opportunities ­offered by consumer and gaming apps.

“The way gaming organisations are approaching business is how we are seeing the template for our future enterprise opportunities,’’ Mr Ghuliani said.

The firm has also invested in companies such as Skillz, which is driving mobile gaming engagement through interactive multiplayer competitions, and Team SoloMid (TSM), a global e-sports franchise boasting one of the most followed social influencer networks in digital streaming. NBA basketball star Stephen Curry is a co-investor in TSM.

Mr Patel said e-sports had ­become the sports of choice for millennials looking for entertainment in the same way their parents engaged with traditional sports.

“E-sports and gaming was on the edges of mainstream adoption and COVID has accelerated this to the mainstream a lot faster than we would have anticipated,’’ Mr Patel said. “It is an interesting time not just for kids, but for mainstream mums, dads and other folks looking at ways to entertain themselves.”

Telstra Ventures has also invested alongside Curry in a company called SnapTravel, which is leveraging conversation commerce across messaging and SMS to allow millennials to book hotel rooms.

“We are seeing a lot of innovation in interactive media, which is changing all aspects of our lives,” Mr Patel said.

“COVID has accelerated a lot of that. Couple that with 5G, smartphones and the cloud and you are getting all these new ­businesses.”

Telstra Ventures, run by Matthew Koertge, has made more than $400m worth of investments in 62 companies since it was established by the telco’s former boss, David Thodey, in 2011.

The investments, worth an average of about $US8m, are spread across a range of sectors including cybersecurity, drones, data analytics and media.