Axion Ventures Inc. Company Profile
Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Axion Ventures Inc. (TSXV:AXV) (OTCQX:AXNVF) is an investment company focused on investments in online video gaming and other information technology (IT) sectors. Axion Ventures has majority ownership in Shanghai-based Axion Games, an online video game development and publishing company as well as in Bangkok-based True Axion Interactive Ltd., a video game development company Axion co-founded with True Corporation (OTC:TCPFF).
Axion Ventures maintains holdings in other innovative technology companies as well, including Shanghai Ying Pei Digital Technology Co, Shanghai Yingpei Software Co., and True Incube Co. The company also has interest in HotNow, a marketing automation solution, and Innovega, an innovative mixed reality eye-wear solution company.
Axion Ventures employs an active investment approach in order to create long-term value for our shareholders and partners and strives to provide its portfolio companies with disciplined operational and financial experience to help them execute and grow.
The company’s flexible and innovative funding and support platform offers the incentives for Axion Ventures and its portfolio companies to succeed, whether that be through commercializing products, increasing revenue or gaining market share.
Axion Games – Offering a Low-Cost Advantage
Axion Games Ltd., formerly Epic Games China, is an independent AAA game development studio and game publisher headquartered in Shanghai, China. Axion Games’ biggest strength is its ability to deliver AA quality premium games at the lowest cost. The company’s development capability has been well-regarded among global industry players and has played a crucial role in helping develop content for multiple AAA titles all over the world.
Axion Games is the only world-class studio in emerging Asia and can make any game at one-tenth of the American cost, and get the product to market 30% faster than American studios. The company has its own portfolio of over 1,200 man years of mostly large-scale PC/Console product.
Axion Games aspires to become a leading game company in China and to expand our operations to select other markets in Southeast Asia. In order to achieve sustainable growth, the company intends to focus on higher production-value products and technologies that smaller studios might find technically challenging or cost prohibitive; deliver a diversified portfolio across game genres and device platforms; increase the scale of our portfolio with potential co-development and other partnership opportunities; increase self-publishing of our games in select markets and increase our development and publishing operations in other Asian markets outside China.
In 2009, Axion Games’ first original IP Fat Princess, became the number one seller on PS3 and PSP. The company also has a number of other original IPs that continuously generate positive IRR.
In 2017, Axion Games’ “Rising Fire” 600 man-year, third-person shooter game was selected by Tencent Holdings Limited to be published as the flagship title for 2017 in China. Then in July 2018, Axion announced the official commercial launch of Rising Fire on Tencent’s massive distribution network, WeGame.
Axion Games launched two new games this year within a matter of weeks, Fighter Royale: Last Ace Flying and INVICTUS: Lost Soul. Fighter Royale is a WWII flying battle royale-style game that the company launched on Steam – a digital distribution platform for buying and playing video games that has 94 million active users across 248 countries and one trillion daily impressions. INVICTUS: Lost Soul is the first AA quality eSports-focused mobile game made in Thailand and was nominated in the 15th International Mobile Gaming Awards in 2019.
Meet the Axion Ventures Team
John Todd Bonner – Chief Executive Officer
John Todd Bonner is the Chief Executive Officer at Axion Ventures and a co-founder of Axion Games, where he has served as a director since its inception. John is a serial entrepreneur with significant leadership experience under his belt, having co-founded Hong Kong-based information and communications technology company PCCW Limited in 1979 and NorthStar Pacific Partners in 2003. John has founded and arranged financing for companies in multiple industries throughout Asia, including private equity, insurance, social applications, video game software, and games generating more than $1 billion in returns for both employers and clients.
Grant Kim – Executive Director
Grant Kim is the Executive Director of Axion Ventures. Grant is a private investor and a partner in a private equity group making direct investments in Asia since 2004. Previously, Grant was a co-founder and executive of a listed company on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Steve Ng – Chief Financial Officer
Steve Ng brings over 15 years of experience in the public accounting industry in China to his role as the Chief Financial Officer at Axion Ventures. During his tenure at Grant Thornton, Steve rendered his professional services to listed and multinational companies in a wide variety of industries. Steve is also a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) and fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA). He holds a Master of Business Administration from Oxford Brookes University and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration majoring in Accounting from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Mark Henry Saft – Business Development and Licensing Director
Mark Henry Saft is the Business Development and Licensing Director of Axion Ventures. He is responsible for spearheading the global sales of Axion’s IP portfolio, including the landmark games developed by Axion Games. Mark also serves as a Board Director of True Axion Games, a Joint Venture video game academy and development studio in Thailand formed with True Incube, a subsidiary of True Corporation Public Company Limited, one of Southeast Asia’s leading telecommunications, media enterprises, and game publishers. Mark has extensive global contacts from his previous executive experience based in Japan, North America, and Southeast Asia. He also founded a leading Japan-based executive search firm, The Ingenium Group Inc. in 2000.
Yoshihiro Obata – Independent Director
Yoshihiro Obata is an independent Director of Axion Ventures with over 30 years of experience with technology companies as a founder, software engineer, board member and senior executive. Most recently, Yoshihiro was founding member, Director and the Chief Technical Officer of eAccess, an ADSL wholesale company that acquired a 3G license in 2005 and successfully introduced LTE in 2012 (under the EMOBILE brand). After the acquisition of eAccess by Softbank in 2013, Yoshihiro moved to Equinix Japan and has served as the President & CEO of BizMobile since 2015.
Stephen Willey – Independent Director
Stephen Willey is an Independent Directors at Axion Ventures and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Innovega Inc. Stephen is a respected pioneer in the development of wearable technology for virtual reality and augmented reality, which is expected to drive new paradigms in gaming, general entertainment, and productivity. Throughout his career, Stephen has led teams of highly trained staff, developed complex international partnerships, and played key roles in delivering successful IPOs and M&A transactions for Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq-listed companies.