ATLAS DRAWS ASIAN INVESTORS
Independent investment club Atlas Capital Group offers investors exclusive access to diverse projects with a competitive and long-lasting edge.
As any cautious investor would know, the key to safe and profitable investing is a diversified portfolio. With the world’s leading banks predicting that 2018 will be a year of sustained economic growth, the current market condition has become ripe for the emergence of many innovative, fast-growing companies, leaving investors spoiled for choice.
But while some projects may appear attractive at the get go, many of them more often than not fail to make the market cut. Failing to provide significant returns to backers is a common pitfall that Atlas Capital Group, an independent investment club based in Luxembourg, is dedicated to hedging against. Having spent close to a decade bringing European companies to the lucrative Asian market, the company’s eye for success has cemented its reputation as an investment gateway to the east.
Investing Principles
Helmed by Managing Director Claës Lundström and Business Director Anders Holmgren, Atlas Capital can chalk up their success rate to a tailored model that minimizes investor risk. For one, the company is an active owner in all the investments it represents. “This guarantees that we always have influence and control over the development of our invested projects,” shares Anders.
While most may prefer more mature propositions, Atlas Capital cements its belief in a project’s potential by getting involved at seed level. “We start off by investing a small amount into 15 to 20 companies in a year before shortlisting to only five or six,” Anders reveals. “Once these companies are fully funded, we take them to private investors.” The companies are only revealed to investors once fully market ready, Ander’s emphasizes, to ensure minimal risk.
A capable leader and management team behind the project is also an important criteria. “We look at projects developed by people that we and our investors know personally and can vouch for. Trusting the people behind the business is important. There are many good business ideas destroyed by entrepreneurs who do not have a proper business plan,” Anders summarizes.
Proven Success
A self-proclaimed ‘industry agnostic’ company, Atlas Capital’s projects span everything from F&B to medical and technology companies. In 2013, the company offered investors the opportunity to invest in Visiometrics, a fast growing business that designs, manufactures and markets ophthalmic diagnostic instruments. This includes the revolutionary HD Analyzer that ensures complete and objective eye examinations by allowing the physician to see exactly what the patient sees.
The project was offered to investors at a valuation of €50 million and was acquired two years later for a whopping €125 million, an exit that has since become a benchmark for the company’s future projects.
Groundbreaking Online Gaming
More recently, the company has begun investing in online gaming, a sector that has seen exponential growth resulting from the rise of portable technology such as smartphones and tablets. It is now looking for investors for two fast-growing companies – Moosh.pt and iGotcha studios. Operating in Portugal, Moosh.pt is a curated portal of casino games that takes advantage of the newly opened up Portuguese online casino market that recently shifted from a traditional monopoly to a license market open for all. Moosh.pt will be one of the first such sites to be granted this a license.
Targeting the Southeast Asian market, Atlas Capital Group also owns 30% of iGotcha Studios, a Swedish gaming studio in the final stages of developing a game-changing location-based mobile game for smartphones. The game will be available in Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, and will allow players to move around in a futuristic world that adapts to the player via GPS positioning. Compared to the highly successful Pokémon Go, this game’s multiplayer aspect takes the offering a notch higher by allowing for an extra layer of competition and interaction
Looking Ahead
Acknowledging that most of its current projects are based in Europe, Atlas Capital Group hopes to better engage Asian investors by setting up a Singapore-based holding company for investors in the region. “It will comfort investors to know that their money does not leave the country,” Anders believes.
Hoping to extend its geographical reach, the company is also working towards bringing Asian projects to European investors in the near future. “It would be good for our local investors’ portfolios if they invest in other markets,” says Anders. “This investor-driven strategy will form our mission for the years ahead.”
This article was first published in the MillionaireAsia Issue 47 - March 2018
