What do you get when you cross the country’s most popular online personality and the Southeast Asian region’s largest consumer technology company? A match foretold by the stars or one filled with stars?
Followers of the local tech industry have come across Nix Nolledo in one way or another. He’s the country’s first tech billionaire. His presence in the industry is felt through his venture capitalist endeavors and his role as Chairman and CEO of Xurpas, Inc, a company he grew from the ground up with just a paid-up capital of P62,500 in 2001. Xurpas is the first element of our little matchup.
Anne Curtis has more than 8 million followers on Twitter and a diehard fanbase. Her influence spans across different mediums. She has been tweeting updates on a big launch happening soon. She’s the second part.
Mix them up and you get Xeleb, Xurpas’ first subsidiary company it built from the ground up since being publicly listed late last year. Xeleb is the country’s first celebrity-themed mobile games company. The company’s President and CEO is Xurpas’ Chief Operating Officer, Raymond Racaza. Its chief shareholders include a number of the country’s biggest stars: Anne Curtis, Isabelle Daza, Kuya Kim Atienza, and Erwan Heussaff.
The company seeks to develop the celebrity gaming space in the country. It taps into raw celebrity power and the rising popularity of mobile gaming. Games themed after its four primary celebrity shareholders will be launched in the company’s future.
Anne Galing, an Anne Curtis-themed match-3 game, is the first mobile gaming rolling out from Xeleb. Designed and voiced by the celebrity herself, the game allows players to shop for digital clothes, build a wardrobe, and personalize Anne’s in-game outfits while making matches of three. The app is available now on Google Play.
Xeleb hopes to leverage all four celebrity shareholders’ celebrity power to act as a tentpole and attract more and more celebrities to contribute to its growing portfolio of games.
