Richard

Founder of Nikeforos, Stockholm, London, Athens

Go Nikeforos – Its your birthday!

It is two years to the day that the Nikeforos portfolio made it’s first investments. The portfolio was put together based on my philosophy of where the gaming industry was going and what its role was in the economy. I drew a line around the industry that was wider than most people would have drawn, hoping to catch all parts of the value chain and focus on larger trends rather than hot tickets.

The portfolio included some hardware makers, some developers, of course, but also distributors, IP originators (film industry), key suppliers (chip makers), and would keep an eye on e-sports and gaming accessories. While not directly investing in Amazon, Google, Tencent and Apple, it kept an eye on the movements of these top predators in the gaming universe.

Two years later the result is an auditable ARR of 50.43%, a Sharpe ratio of 1.67. The portfolio outperforms the only gaming ETF in the world (ETFMG Video Game Tech ETF – US26924G7060) by 44% over these two years.

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By Richard, ago

Shutting Three Gates after the bulls have bolted

There is a new(ish) Nordic issue in town, see the documentation yourselves here. This is how I unpack what is presented:

History Three Gates is a company, founded in 2011 and  which listed originally in 2016. It now has 600 investors. The majority of shares is held by founders and some private equity firms and directors. For a Swede the coolest thing about them is they are based in Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea, imagine the Iron Islands but with fibre.

Production this is solid, repeatable games production company with a clear niche that allows them to follow a segment of gamers and know their market better than others, the fishing, hunting, sports segment of the market is not a sexy segment (if you ask me) but they have found their niche and some interesting cooperation partners and good luck to them.

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By Richard, ago

Stage 3

Business plan is sort of semi drafted, still lots of questions to deal with. Special, UCITS or ETF? ETFs are the future…..but is the Nordic market ready for them? (are they cheap enough?) Facebook  and Twitter profiles created. Glad that Byzantine Emperors are not trending right now so both handles are available. Is this a Read more…

By Richard, ago

Stage 2

Friday 19th May brought the best weather of the year, but Nikeforos was attending Nordic Game 2017. The aim was a get a better view of the whole game supply chain. Spoke to Hyper Games first, who’s title Morkredd won a prize and was a fun concept, although not sure if Read more…

By Richard, ago

Stage 1

Nordic Game 2017 is booked. My first gaming conference since I was 15 and at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre looking to meet the giants of Spectrum 48k game development. I wonder what has happened since days of “Elite” and Crash Magazine?

By Richard, ago