STRONG GROWTH HAS VGW EYEING US

THE most profitable local tech start-up is Laurence Escalante’s Virtual Gaming Worlds, which surged in popularity around the world during Covid lockdowns and has kept up its strong financial performance in recent months.

Almost all of VGW’s customers are in North America, playing virtual games such as its Chumba Casino suite of online poker machine, poker and blackjack table games, and Luckyland Slots.

Which is a big reason why VGW is now contemplating following Atlassian and other Australian start-ups like BigCommerce and gym training business F45 on a path towards listing in the US.

“We’ve had very solid interest in the business after our recent results, especially from overseas investors,” Mr Escalante said. “We don’t need new capital, but we are looking to engage more with the financial and investment community.

“That’s why we are open to a potential North American IPO in the medium to longer term.”

VGW customers pay real money to buy virtual “gold coins” to play.

It operates under a sweepstakes model that gives users the chance to win promotional sweepstakes prizes that can be redeemed for cash.