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Tech industry news and issues related to Victoria


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#101 Mattjvd

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Posted 03 June 2019 - 10:43 PM

San Francisco game developer Kixeye has been bought out by the Swedish gaming firm Stillfront. Kixeye will retain its name and product lines, but it's headquarters will shift to the Victoria, BC office as the SF office will close.

 

https://www.gamesind...xeye-for-usd90m


Edited by Mattjvd, 03 June 2019 - 10:44 PM.


#102 AllseeingEye

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 12:19 AM

Not sure how this got missed but as of last fall Sierra Systems, one of BC's oldest home grown systems services and management firms, founded in Vancouver in 1966, was scooped up by NTT Data Services out of Texas. NTTDS is a division of NTT Data Corporation, a top 10 global business and IT Services Provider.

 

Sierra had roughly 700 IT staff across Canada including a significant presence in Victoria for several decades. By being incorporated into NTT they became part of a 110,000-strong org operating in over 50 countries. Hope they got some shares.....



#103 Mike K.

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 04:44 AM

San Francisco game developer Kixeye has been bought out by the Swedish gaming firm Stillfront. Kixeye will retain its name and product lines, but it's headquarters will shift to the Victoria, BC office as the SF office will close.

https://www.gamesind...xeye-for-usd90m


Matt, are you able to provide a link that mentions the HQ transition to Victoria? I didn’t see that mentioned in the article.

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#104 spanky123

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 07:15 AM

Matt, are you able to provide a link that mentions the HQ transition to Victoria? I didn’t see that mentioned in the article.

 

Yeah reading between the lines on this the release mentions that Clayton Stark will remain (presumably because 1/4 of the sale price is being held back in the form of an earnout) , the game under development is being sold off, and the existing titles are going to be milked. That sounds a lot like staff are going to be cut not that the Victoria office is going to grow.



#105 spanky123

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 07:40 AM

Just noticed on the Kixeye site that the original leadership are all gone and Clayton is now President with 1 VP and 1 Director supporting him. Only development jobs listed are in Vietnam.


Edited by spanky123, 04 June 2019 - 07:41 AM.


#106 Mike K.

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 07:44 AM

Looks like Victoria is more of a high-level office, with analysts and project managers.


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#107 Mattjvd

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 11:21 AM

Matt, are you able to provide a link that mentions the HQ transition to Victoria? I didn’t see that mentioned in the article.


https://www.stillfro...debt-financing/

The Stillfront press release says "headquatered in Canada" Victoria is the only Canadian office.
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#108 spanky123

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 03:36 PM

https://www.stillfro...debt-financing/

The Stillfront press release says "headquatered in Canada" Victoria is the only Canadian office.

 

I think that may have been a typo. Google says that the headquarters are in SF.



#109 Mike K.

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 03:42 PM

Their website has this paragraph: We’re always on the lookout for people with a passion for gaming and aptitude for excellence. Headquartered in Victoria, Canada, KIXEYE also has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and Ho Chi Minh City. Join us.

The transition must have been sudden. As of March (the last Wikipedia update) SFO was still listed as the HQ location.

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#110 Mattjvd

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Posted 04 June 2019 - 09:47 PM

Their website has this paragraph: We’re always on the lookout for people with a passion for gaming and aptitude for excellence. Headquartered in Victoria, Canada, KIXEYE also has offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and Ho Chi Minh City. Join us.

The transition must have been sudden. As of March (the last Wikipedia update) SFO was still listed as the HQ location.


Stillfront's press release for the purchase is dated this week, and SF was the headquaters until the aquisition. So it makes sense a March publication would have SF as the HQ.

#111 spanky123

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Posted 05 June 2019 - 05:46 AM

From Stillfront's website. I guess the SF office were part of the "synergies". Of note, Stillfront's stock trades at about a 40x multiple of earnings. From what I can tell they paid about 4x for Kixeye. 

 

Stillfront expects the acquisition of KIXEYE to result in a number of potential synergies and increased growth opportunities directly upon completion of the Transaction. The companies have identified synergies within performance marketing, live ops and multi-platform experience. Achieving these synergies will result in a further enhanced profitability within the combined group. No revenue synergies or cost reductions have been taken into consideration in the pro forma figures.



#112 Kapten Kapsell

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Posted 05 June 2019 - 10:22 AM

Here's the link to the T-C article on the acquisition:  

https://www.timescol...120m-1.23845266



#113 Citified.ca

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 08:33 AM

Victoria is on the world stage this morning following the release of results from a clinical trial for a drug by Saanich-based Aurinia Pharmaceuticals.

 

Valuation of Saanich-based pharmaceutical company skyrockets to US $2 billion following drug trial

https://victoria.cit...ing-drug-trial/


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#114 spanky123

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 10:36 AM

^ I believe that this is primarily the Apreva folks that have had a track record of successful drug trials and partnerships over the past 15-20 years under various names and brands.


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#115 AllseeingEye

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Posted 06 December 2019 - 12:20 AM

^ Yup, same gang.....



#116 Kapten Kapsell

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Posted 06 December 2019 - 08:09 AM

It looks like the T-C staff might be reading VV to get news scoops!   :1954_dancing:  This article also has some additional info:  https://www.timescol...firm-1.24029327



#117 AllseeingEye

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Posted 29 December 2019 - 08:05 PM

While I completely agree with the assessment re: challenges finding appropriate office space I had to laugh at the comment about Victoria becoming the "next Silicon Valley". Yeah that's not happening in this or the next millennium at any rate....

 

Still there is definitely a challenge with space particularly downtown. We're not a tech company but with close to a hundred staff in our IT department we're bigger than most Victoria tech firms, and have 500+ staff spread out across three buildings in a two block radius. Finding one roof however under which all can work is an ongoing issue not easily overcome:

 

https://www.saanichn..._medium=twitter



#118 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 30 December 2019 - 04:33 AM

does tech - of all things - need everyone under one roof? even Kano quoted in the article says it has simply moved around in the same building 3 times. tech is also pretty mobile.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2019 - 04:34 AM.


#119 Mike K.

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Posted 30 December 2019 - 08:45 AM

It's also exposed to sudden boom/bust cycles where a 10 person office might need space for 30 people over the span of a few months, then two years later it's down to a five person office. It might be better for the financial viability of some of these firms to expand into additional office spaces rather than sign leases for single, large floorplates.


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#120 spanky123

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Posted 30 December 2019 - 09:43 AM

^ Which is the whole reason why so many tech firms are in shared or co-lo space. The industry is very dependent on the US/CDN dollar exchange rate and expansion in the US tech industry (ie lots of people her work remotely for US tech firms). 


Edited by spanky123, 30 December 2019 - 09:44 AM.

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