William Hill announces startup accelerator in Shoreditch and Tel Aviv

The company will offer eight companies an investment of USD 39,000 and office space for the duration of its 12 weeks program.

The program is intended for very early stage startups, according to Crispin Nieboer, director of corporate development and innovation at William Hill. “This is about rapidly converting early stage companies into something valuable,” he said.

Like other companies that offer online gambling — including Playtech PTEC.LN, Holdings 888, Ladbrokes and Caesars Entertainment –William Hill is active in Israel, employing a marketing team of about 200 people.

In 2008 the company established online marketing operations in Israel in a joint venture with Playtech, a U.K.-listed, Israeli-founded online gambling technology provider. It later bought Playtech’s share. In February, Israeli-founded, Gibraltar registered 888 Holdings said it had ended talks over a proposed USD 1.1 billion takeover bid by William Hill.

In 2013 Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment set up an online gambling venture capital fund called NewGame Capital. Two more European investment vehicles focused on this market in Europe are Burlywood Capital and Velo Capital. “Our industry is ripe for further disruption,” said Andy Lee, managing director of William Hill’s online business.