John Chasey: Iomo

John Chasey
Age: 33
Company: Iomo

Started in 2000, Hampshire-based Iomo has developed a number of high-profile gaming titles, including Bafta-nominated Scooby Doo, plus Tomb Raider, Thunderbirds and Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour Golf. Last year’s £750,000 turnover should rise to £1.7m this year following the 25-person company’s success in having five of the top 10 titles listed in Vodafone’s most popular mobile phone games, and being voted best mobile studio in the 2003 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

2013 update:

After selling Iomo to InfoSpace for $15m in 2004, Chasey exited the mobile game developer and publisher in 2007 to seek new ventures. The 2004 Young Gun joined with former employees of Iomo to co-found mobile cross-platform technology developer Metismo, before selling to enterprise software firm Software AG in 2011. At the same time as launching Metismo in 2007, the serial entrepreneur joined with another group of former Iomo employees to co-found mobile app and game developer FinBlade , which continues to develop apps for customers including Vodafone, Nissan, and Nokia. After starting, growing and selling a number of businesses, Chasey has also become a sought-after non-executive, acting for companies such as business-to-business mobile technology company Metaflow, which was subsequently acquired by InMobi in 2012, and bespoke ski, mountain biking and rock climbing adventure holiday firm Much Better Adventures.

2016 update:

Since 2014, Chasey has been operations director at high-end sports car manufacturer TVR. At the same time, he remains as a board member of TIGA, the network of video games developers he founded in 2000; a chairman of the British mobile game and app developer FinBlade that he founded in 2007 and non-executive director of Much Better Adventures. He also provides business mentor and consulting services through Chasey Consulting, which he founded in 2007.