A new digital gaming venture capital fund has been launched with an initial £15 million investment from Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC. The fund is being formed by the founders of Cashcade Simon Collins and Patrick Southon.

The fund titled " NewGame Capital " will invest in high potential start-ups in the monetised digital gaming arena that include casual, social, online and mobile services. The fund comprises a £15 million pound investment from Bwin.Party and another £1 million from the investment team. Additional backers are hoped to bring to £50 million for the fund in total. Advisers to the fund include Collins, Southon and merchant bank NewShore Partners. It has already made its first investment in free-to-play social bingo provider Avatingo. According to a statement it “intends to build a portfolio of up to 15 companies with consumer-facing, intellectual property or B2B business models”.

Collins and Southon started Cashcade 10 years with brands like Foxy Bingo and sold the company to Bwin.Party in 2009 for around £96 million and the pair stepped down from day-to-day operations at Bwin.Party in February to concentrate on the new venture.

Noel Rowse who replaced Southon as the MD of Cashcade in January this year commented: “Casual games have brought digital gaming into the mainstream of the global entertainment industry and have attracted millions of new users to gaming over the past five years.

“With the growth of micro-payments and other forms of paid-participation, the lines between online gaming and online gambling have started to blur. We anticipate continued strong market growth in monetised digital gaming and are seeing a very vibrant start-up scene related to the sector both in Europe and North America,” he added.

The chief financial officer of Bwin.Party, Martin Weigold commented: “We see huge innovation taking place across the social, casual, mobile and real-money gaming area. NewGame Capital has a rare combination of entrepreneurial, strategic and financial expertise.

“We believe that this will allow it not only to identify companies with innovative business models, but also to guide them towards long-term success. We are excited to invest alongside such a blue-chip team.”