GAITKeepers podcast series

We discussed the Metaverse in July 2021 with Matthew Kanterman (CFA), co-host of the Into The Metaverse podcast and formerly of Bloomberg Intelligence. He joins us again for this episode of GAITKeepers to discuss his latest views on the development of the Metaverse over the past 12 months, his new role at Ball Metaverse Research Partners and some of the challenges and hurdles to overcome in building the Metaverse.

The frontier of gaming is our three-part series where we sat down with special guest Philip Collins of Konvoy Ventures, a gaming focussed venture capital firm based in Denver, Colorado.

Together with Vishal Patel (Digital Business) and James Cherry (Contentious Tax), Philip covers a range of topics including web3/blockchain gaming and the latest market developments.

In this first episode of our Frontier of Gaming three part series, we focus on the Konvoy Ventures view on the future of gaming and market trends.

In part two of our three-part Frontier of Gaming series, we dive deeper into web3/blockchain gaming with our special guest Philip Collins of Konvoy Ventures.

In the final part of our three-part Frontier of Gaming series, we discuss DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organisations), including a dispute on the Merit Circle DAO, and finish off our discussion with Philip Collins of Konvoy Ventures, by covering some of the top issues within web3/blockchain gaming.

Webacy develops non-custodial smart contracts and tools that secure your assets from loss, hacks, death and more. In this episode, Elia Kim (Corporate, Tokyo office) and Hana Bell (Corporate, London office) sit down with Maika Isogawa (CEO and co-founder of Webacy) to discuss how digital assets can be used to provide services, the role of DAOs (in and outside of gaming) and AI chatbots.

What are the most exciting opportunities that Web 3.0 could provide? But conversely, what barriers are we facing for its widespread adoption? Elia Kim (Corporate) and Hazal Kirci (Banking) speak to Robert Hou (Vice President at Permira) and Michael Lavner (Principal at Balderton Capital) on the current state of early stage investing in Web 3.0.

In this two-part episode, Elia Kim (Corporate, Tokyo office) and Hazal Kirci (Trainee, London office) were joined by Robert Hou, Vice President at Permira, and Michael Lavner, Principal at Balderton Capital, to discuss the opportunities that Web 3.0 could provide, what excites them the most about the industry and the obstacles that currently stand in the way of its widespread adoption. Part two of the episode features our guests discussing the lengthy timeframe of investing in Web 3.0 and the difficulties inherent in valuing companies that are developing the industry.

In this two part episode, Simmons is joined by Karl Tlais, Founder and Strategic Advisor at iAdvisory. iAdvisory were integral in the creation of the ‘Dubai Metaverse Strategy’, which recently approved a new phase in the Gulf’s pursuit to be the centre of the Metaverse. Karl is a strategic business leader with over 20 years’ experience building market presence and driving revenue growth across Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He specialises and is considered an industry transformational leader across the Digital Economy, Fintech, Innovation, Partnership, Venture and Investment space. We are also joined by Raza Rizvi, Partner at Simmons (Middle East) and digital business, data and IP specialist, to gain his legal insights of the region.

In Part 1, we discuss with both Karl and Raza about the role that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is set to play in the building the Metaverse, including Karl’s views on the Metaverse and what it is to become and the challenges it needs to overcome.

In Part two of our MENAverse episode, we dive deeper into the key considerations for businesses who have not operated within the MENA region with our guests Karl Tlais, Founder and Strategic Advisor at iAdvisory and Raza Rizvi, Partner at Simmons (Middle East).

Providers of online platforms are coming under increasing regulatory pressure to verify their users’ age and identity. Whether it’s through data privacy legislation or the increasing focus on platform regulation, there appears to be a desire, globally, to ensure users are being protected. Part of this responsibility it seems, is for platforms to identify who is using them and how old they are. So in this episode we dive into the subject of age and identity verification online with our guest Julie Dawson of Yoti, a leading provider of an age and identity platform, and Emily Jones, a Partner and data privacy specialist at Simmons & Simmons. We’ll run through the challenges that these providers face and what they can be doing about it with impending legal changes on the way.