Waterhouse VC

Tom Waterhouse serves as Chief Investment Officer and makes all investment decisions. He is the great-great-grandson of Charles Waterhouse, who founded the family bookmaking business in 1898. Tom Waterhouse previously built and sold TomWaterhouse.com to William Hill for A$70 million in 2013 (per The Australian Financial Review, 2014), giving him operator-level experience that informs his investment underwriting.

The firm's primary sourcing advantage is the Waterhouse family name in global wagering. Operators and B2B providers view Waterhouse as industry insiders rather than financial sponsors, which surfaces earlier-stage opportunities than a conventional VC would see. The firm also leverages Tom Waterhouse's personal network of Australian, UK, and US gaming executives built over two decades of operating and investing in the sector.

Waterhouse VC operates as a venture capital fund, not a family office. It accepts external capital through a rolling fund structure with monthly subscription windows. While Tom Waterhouse is the named principal and face of the firm, the vehicle is designed to pool third-party LP capital alongside his own, targeting 30–40 portfolio companies at maturity.

Waterhouse VC makes direct equity investments into operating companies, primarily through early-stage and growth rounds. The firm occasionally co-invests alongside other sector-focused funds but does not allocate to third-party fund commitments as a limited partner.

The firm targets growth-stage companies with existing commercial traction, typically post-revenue. Investments span seed through Series B rounds, with a preference for businesses that have proven product-market fit within the regulated gambling and gaming-technology markets of Australia, the United Kingdom, or North America.

Gaming and gambling technology is the core thesis, but the mandate extends to adjacent consumer and enterprise tools that serve gaming operators. A 2023 investment in Tracksuit, a brand-tracking software platform based in New Zealand, illustrates how the firm occasionally backs consumer-intelligence infrastructure that gaming clients use to measure marketing performance.

Waterhouse VC co-invests opportunistically alongside other venture funds and family offices active in gaming technology. The firm does not operate a formal club or syndicate, but Tom Waterhouse's industry relationships regularly surface opportunities to participate in rounds led by larger institutional VCs, particularly in Australian and UK-based deals.