eGaming Review January 2014 | Page 59

Q&A CASUMO ONE TO WATCH >> Casumo co-founder Razmus Svenningson tells eGaming Review why the company’s real-money online casino experience is attracting attention from the industry and loyalty from customers A mid all the talk of social and RMG conversion, a handful of companies are out there making it happen. Casumo, founded in 2013 by Razmus Svenningson and Oscar Simonsson, falls squarely in that category and is beginning to be recognised as a true innovator bridging the gap between the two sectors. The company takes familiar elements of the online gambling and social gaming worlds, and throws them together to create what it describes as a ‘Casino Adventure’. Frustrated by the lack of innovation in real-money gambling, Svenningson says the company has set out to challenge the normal online casino journey by taking third-party games and integrating them into a holistic gaming experience. It’s an idea which stands out from the crowd and saw the company scoop eGaming Review’s Rising Star gong at November’s Operator Awards. “We’re still a small company and most people have no clue who or what we are,” says Svenningson. “The Rising Star award helps us get new people both in the industry and outside of it to discover us. It’s also a seal of approval that can help us win both our players’ trust and future employees understand that we’re a company that does new, interesting and challenging stuff.” And while unable to share any financial information or player numbers at this stage, Svenningson says the company’s growth has been “awesome”. The future, it seems, is bright. “We’ve been overwhelmed and we stay humble to the fact that we’ve exceeded our expectations by far,” he says. “It warms us that people seem to love the product and that just makes us itch to get the next one out that we’re working really hard on right now. We have had awesome growth that we’re proud of and that makes it possible for us to re-invest in our product to create better experiences for our players every day. That’s what we believe in, doing great stuff. If we build it, they will come.” “WE HAVE HAD AWESOME GROWTH THAT WE’RE PROUD OF AND THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO REINVEST IN OUR PRODUCT TO CREATE BETTER EXPERIENCES FOR OUR PLAYERS” Razmus Svenningson, founder of Casumo www.egrmagazine.com eGaming Review (eGR): Can you describe the idea behind Casumo? Rasmus Svenningson (RS): Casumo is a tech-startup and we’ve set out to create the best player experience there is and in order to do so we use technology as our magic. Casumo is an entertainment machine and we combine real-money gaming with elements from casual or social gaming. This means that Casumo is not only about playing games as in the casino but also about collecting trophies, winning valuables, gaining experience reaching new belts and progressing in levels. We have a depth in our product through storytelling that unveils our universe and provides meaning, direction and context to what our customers are doing. Investing time and energy in Casumo makes sense. It is an advanced, layered product that is extremely easy to use. Casumo is that buddy you love to crack a joke with and it’s about the fun, the excitement and the surprises. eGR: How unique is what you do and who do you see as competition, if anyone? RS: We’ve been the odd one out from day one, and we don’t mind. We do what we believe in and we know where we are going. We will continue towards that and we have a sense of what we want to accomplish. We can see that other colleagues in the industry are getting inspired by us, as features pop up here and there. That’s one of the best grades we can get. I would imagine that we will see 57