Connor Williams: ‘iGB L!VE is critical in encouraging more collaboration, challenging tired thinking, and charting a path forward for the industry.’

Connor Williams has been a director at Velo Capital Partners for more than 6 years, managing over 35 portfolio companies including the likes of Oddin, WinZO, and Novig.

His core thematic focuses include next gen casino content, B2C regulatory arbitrage, and the ‘gamblification” of mass market sectors such as video gaming and finance. He explains why Pitch iGB is critical to the industry, the impact of over-regulation on innovation and the importance of keeping a ‘fresh mind’.

You are part of the judging panel for Pitch iGB – how important do you think it is for the industry to come together and support new entrepreneurial businesses?

CW: The Pitch iGB competition is one of the key routes to democratising startup investing in the sector which is critical in unearthing new and disruptive businesses. This is even more critical to developed regions like the UK where innovation opportunities can be overlooked in the service of “safe and consistent”.

What are you looking for in terms of entries – what constitutes a winning submission?

CW: As a VC investor we target outsized returns on our investment for the early stage risk that we take. This means a winning submission needs to be swinging for the fences in terms of both scalability and disruption. Product is currently quite stale, user experience is far from being optimised, and over-regulation is stymying the incumbents and that’s where the opportunity lies.

In your experience how difficult is it for iGaming businesses to secure funding from the mainstream banking sector?

CW: The banking sector is risk constrained from a number of different angles and this is important to understand in the context of available funding for iGaming. That being said, the fintech sector at large is very keen to engage more with our sector, especially around payments. External funding in iGaming in general is more difficult to obtain, this holds true for listed businesses as well as startups, partially due to structural restrictions within the finance sector and partly due to a history of several bad actors on the operator side that the industry has yet to overcome. I think this challenge represents a specific opportunity for in-sector speciality lending not dissimilar to user acquisition financing businesses in the consumer and video gaming sectors.

How does the event contribute to the health of the industry: what do businesses gain from participating in iGB L!VE?

CW: Our sector is one that has historically been a bit disconnected, particularly at the large operator and supplier level. These events are critical in encouraging more collaboration, challenging tired thinking, and charting a path forward for the industry that (in my view) eventually needs to lead to the mass market the way the likes of online consumer and fintech businesses have. In order to achieve this the industry needs to be able to demonstrate that tech is now at a place where players can be almost completely insulated from player harm; and operators need to finally embrace this as the days of high staking whales (in regulated markets like the UK) are clearly coming to an end.

How would you describe the iGB L!VE experience – what does it deliver?

CW: iGB is like a cheat-sheet for all the latest happenings in the gaming sector, it’s an amazing opportunity to catch up with colleagues and meet new players in the market. In addition, one gets the latest insights of the industry’s thought leaders that you won’t get without travelling outside of the country.

In your view what are the main trends and technologies impacting the industry and that will be evident on the iGB L!VE show floor?

CW: The industry is currently reeling from a combination of over-regulation and over-taxation. This has lead to two predominant trends in regulated markets: a decisive shift to the black market and the rise of crypto solutions (the two not being wholly mutually exclusive). B2B tech is largely solved at this stage and is seeing a retreat due to the failure of B2B incumbents to innovate sufficiently, while services and content are still exciting places to cast an eye in the vertical. Specifically on the content side, we are seeing many operators attempt to shift this in-house (with limited success to date) which is seeing content providers shifting more towards innovation in content that is starting to cross into casual mobile gaming mechanics. AI remains a sector that iGaming is significantly behind other industries on and I am hoping we hear more about shifts towards agentic thinking, scalable solutions to sub-par AI art/animation/content to-date, and more ambitious pushes towards long term value drivers (such as bespoke gambling LLMs and innovation around classical model training loops).

How important is it that iGB L!VE is taking place in London a city regarded as being the home of iGaming?

CW: iGB is critical for visitors as the major industry event in the UK. As a market that is highly regulated and developed, iGB is critical to help one keep a fresh mind on industry trends and meet new entrants that are changing the rules of the game.