OVHcloud founder tops up portfolio with cloud gaming service Shadow
Jezby Ventures has acquired the cloud gaming startup Blade
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Jezby Ventures, the investment fund ofOVHcloudfounder Octave Klaba, has acquired Blade and its cloud gaming serviceShadowfollowing a commercial court order.
Shadow is acloud computingservice for gamers that allows them to gain access to a gaming PC in a data center for a monthly subscription fee. However, unlikeGoogleStadia and other competitors in the space, the French startup Blade provides users with a fullWindows 10instance that allows them to install any software they want in addition to games and access it on any device.
Although Blade was able to raise over $100m since its founding in 2015 and reach 100,000 paid users, the company was unable to generate enough revenue to be self-sustainable. As a result, the company went into administration with the Paris Commercial Court.
Takeover bids were then submitted byScaleway, several other companies and even Blade CTO Jean-Baptiste Kempf along with other employees but in the end, Klaba’s Jezby Ventures had the winning bid.
Once the takeover is complete, Klaba plans to keep all of Blade’s existing employees with the exception of Kempf.
Blade acquisition
In arecent tweetannouncing Jezby Ventures' Blade acquisition, Klaba explained that the investment fund aims to “build the best Cloud Gaming offer in the world!” going forward.
In its bid to the Paris Commercial Court, the company explained that it plans to buy all of the servers that Blade has not yet paid for and then sell them to OVHcloud. Theweb hostingcompany will then rent the servers back to Blade.
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Earlier this year, Jezby Ventures also acquired the cloud storage service hubiC from OVHcloud after it was discontinued in 2018. The investment firm plans to use Blade’s streaming service to help it run hubiC. Blade will also continue to offer its Shadowcloud gaming serviceto consumers but down the line, Jezby Ventures wants to extend its business further to provideremote desktopservices.
As cloud gaming has grown in popularity over the past few years, Jezby Ventures' acquisition of Blade makes sense but Shadow’s fullWindows 10instances could end up being much more profitable for the company in the long run.
ViaTechCrunch
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
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