Netik alumni John Wise and Colin Close have resurfaced at a new cloud-based securities technology start-up which is inviting seasoned market professionals and first-time investors alike to take part in a virtual stock trading game with a $1 million payout.
The interactive investment game allows players to test strategies and methods across 35 of the world's stock exchanges. Players will be ranked and prizes distributed on a weekly and monthly basis, with the ultimate $1 million prize awarded at the end of a nine-month play period.
The game has been conceived as a showcase for InvestCloud LLC, a technology start-up that delivers securities technology and services from the cloud. The firm is the latest venture from John Wise and Colin Close, the former CEO and president of Netik respectively, who quit the data management firm in April this year.
Wise, now CEO of InvestCloud, says: "As a firm we have been focused on leveraging existing cloud technology and strategic partners, but to fully demonstrate our technology, we had to think very differently about our architecture and development tools."
He says the company has developed patent-pending technology that enables the firm to build sophisticated applications with very little programming, "a service that we will deploy beyond the PlayMyMillions game for private companies and institutions".
The game, available for signup now through a dedicated Website, will be accessible through facebook in November and as an app on the iPhone and Blackberry by December, he says.