2001 Competition Winner

BMO Bank of Montreal First Prize Winner

Air Games Wireless, Inc., winner of the 2001 competition, has executed on the business plan it formulated during the competition and is no longer in start-up mode. Established by three young entrepreneurs, the company creates wireless games that can be played on wireless devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants. Their business plan called for them to initially license their games to mobile telecom carriers and then begin distributing other creators’ games. Air Games derives its income from a small fee charged per minute of play. Today, the company distributes over 100 wireless games to almost 40 wireless telecom carriers around the world. Fifty percent of their product mix represents 20 other companies’ games, which they distribute over their network. “In 2002, we generated 100 million minutes of play,” says company president Frederik Ghahramani. “We now have 590,000 active subscribers and we continue to see double digit growth on most channels.” He expects 2003 to be a very good year, with a dramatic increase in the adoption of Air Games’ products worldwide.