 Welcome to the wide world of eSports, a show devoted to all things eSports. I'm your host, Catherine Noor. Today, we're talking about GamerTech, wearables engineer for gamers. Joining us from Colombo Sri Lanka is the CEO and co-founder of GamerTech, Amila Paturana. Welcome, Amila. Thank you, Catherine. Nice to be on the show. All right, so tell us about GamerTech. GamerTech, we founded in 2018, just a year before the pandemic really started hitting us, or rather two years before the pandemic. Me and the co-founder, Taraka De Silva, we both were passionate gamers. We were working for an organization called MS Holdings. And MS Holdings gave us an opportunity to explore something that they never explored before. And what really happened was we went to the market, we started doing a lot of research to understand what are the pinpoints gamers go through, including ourselves. And we realized that there were no dedicated wearables or approval solutions built for gamers. There were four main areas that we identified. One was in terms of handheld. As you would notice, gamers need to have their hands in their peak condition to really perform at peak levels. And then the second one was around vision. Obviously, when you stay in front of a screen for a long time, you're going to deteriorate your vision. Third one was around posture because you also tend to compromise your posture when you really sit in front of a screen for a long time. You tend to be unconsciously plouching, breaking your posture, leading to long-term repercussions. And the fourth one is around non-communicable diseases related to bad lifestyle stemming from obesity. So out of these four problems that we identified when we did the second research, we thought about solving for handheld, which we felt one of the biggest problems that the gamers were facing. And then the second one was around posture. And then also there was a sub-segment that we identified that a lot of gamers also tend to have issues in terms of managing their wellness and then also in terms of managing their body orders, things like that, because you tend to stress a lot during gaming sessions. So with that, we started developing consumer problem statements. And then we also started developing solution profiles to match those consumer problems. So we follow a very specific process. And this is all thanks to MS Holdings because what they've done in the past is that they've created an innovation center for people like us who enable us to join them as entrepreneurs and then work on projects that can be a future potential of MS if we are able to prove different milestones as we move forward. Then by 2019, we started working with an organization called One HP who specialized in game health and wellness doing primary research in the US because we felt US was the market because you may ask why not somewhere else like India, China, which has bigger population closer to Sri Lanka. And the reason for that is we also looked at what is the average revenue per user that would spend on a product like this and US seemed to be the highest. And we started doing our primary research throughout 2019 where we developed solution prototypes, tested in the market. Just to give you perspective, we did about 600 screener surveys when we started the journey. Then had like almost 61 on one interviews. Then from those one-on-one interviews, we actually put down a panel that we were going to do product testing. And we did multiple iterations of products for us to understand how different product solutions resonated with the gamers where they actually help them improve performance or address their condition. And that's how we started the journey. So they found to summarize gametech. There are three things that we do. One is boosting performance. We want to help gamers improve their performance. The second one is around also creating immersive experiences because we felt there's technology that we can use. And then the third one is around managing their wellness. And why we want to do all this is because we feel there's a vacuum in the market at this point that we try to solve these problems with either hardware or ergonomic solutions, but there's not necessarily any dedicated solutions in the market at the moment that you can actually put on the gamers body. And I feel like in traditional sports where you have very specific gear that's built for those athletes, gamers are athletes that we would like to give them solutions that's going to really help them improve their gameplay. So that was the reason for finding gametech and how the journey in a very short span of time. But yes, that's how we started gametech. All right. Let's show the first video. Tell us about that video. What is being shown? Yes. So we built on multiple product solutions. So the first product that we were hoping to bring to the market, which we'll be doing the announcement, it's been in the making for a while, which we call the Magma Glove. Magma Glove, the whole idea was that when you're playing a game, you need to have good hand dexterity. It means that you need to warm up quite rapidly for you to get your actions pumping up. Magma Glove, the whole premise is that we are going to use a proprietary heating technology with compression to improve your circulation quite rapidly. So we've identified the areas that we need to warm up. What's the best way to warm up? What's the temperature? As well as what's the level of compression we need to give to improve your circulation quite rapidly. So this glove is going to be a pre-game warm-up glove. As well as anyone who wants to use it during the game, you can definitely use it. We've also done quite a bit of research around the glove before we introduced it to the market. What we did was we also worked with another doctor called Dr. Lindsey McLeo. And we did product testing around using some of the gaming gold standards. So we used AMLAB's grid test to understand with the glove, without the glove how a gamer would perform. And what we saw was there was about 30% improvement in terms of their actions per minute, as well as efficiency of how they were using the mouse and the keyboard by using the glove. So yes, we are announcing the glove in November at the Sports Awards. I will definitely share some of those details as we move forward. So it will start getting into commercialization from January 2024, hopefully. All right, so I've actually had Dr. Lindsey McLeo on my show, GamerDoc. So how did she help you develop your products? So as GamerTech, we believe in working with experts within the industry. And we also looked at at that point who were the experts who had a good understanding, who's not just coming into the industry, but who also had a background in terms of physical therapy, who's adopting in her field. And that's how we connected with Dr. Lindsey. So she still consults with us. We worked with her very closely on all of our products. What we did was we worked with her to design the testing protocols, because no one has done a product like this before in the market. So we were sure that we just didn't do it from a physical therapy or a physiological point of view. We've done those testing as we started the project. But we also want to test it with certain protocols that meant it's going to be something meaningful to the gamer. So we worked with her, used MLabs Gridshot as an indicator to understand how they would improve their performance. And what we did was we did multiple testing with different gamers, professional gamers, as well as aspiring gamers over a course of couple of months with the glove, without the glove, how they would perform. But we noticed was that there was a significant improvement in terms of their performance the moment they started wearing the glove. But obviously it has a diminishing return over a longer period of time. But it really shows that when someone starts using the glove, it really gives the performance improvement that they need. And then it enables you to hold it for a longer period because usually when you look at both side of things, very specific gear is built to help at least perform better and perform better for a longer period. So it's the same premise that we are looking at. And what we noticed with the testing we've done that you're actually able to improve your performance and then also sustain it over a longer period of time. And that's why we believe this product would change how gamers would manage their performance as we move forward once we introduce it to the market. So you wear the glove before you play or do you wear it during play? So the glove has controls built-in. So it gives you a pre-game warm-up cycle, which is 12 minutes. It gives a higher heat level, which lasts for 12 minutes. And then that improves your decisions. So usually if you're a professional athlete, you take a couple of hours to warm up. You do practice matches. You do quite a bit of finger stretches, all these different exercises to warm you up because you need to have your muscles switching at a much faster rate if you want to compete. So what this does is because of the way we've done the heating technology, it improves your circulation quite significantly, enabling you to have those actions per minute improving quite rapidly. So what you would take usually about, say, a couple of hours to warm up, now you can do it in about, say, less than an hour. And then also do it quite safely because it gives you a sort of like an extra padded layer that gives you that comfort that you can do for a long time. So you have a 12 minute pre-game warm-up cycle and then there are two more different cycles that you can use during the game. One is for a one-hour cycle at a lower, like a medium temperature level and another one for a three-hour cycle at a lower temperature level. So you feel comfortable. You also would notice that when you play at an arena or at a competition, the environment tends to get very cold, right? And sometimes when it's too cold, your fingers don't work the way it should. And here now you have an insulated environment, almost like a micro environment that enables you to have your hands warm up. And in that way, you are able to keep going for a longer period and not reduce your performance. Does this increase circulation in your hands? It does to a certain extent because what it does is usually if you look at compression and heating combined together, that gives you a better circulation. Then just using compression or heat in isolation. So that's why we combine those two technologies together. So the heating technology is an active heating technology which we call the TFTR, which stands for thermal thin film thermal regeneration. So that's a patent pending technology. What we've done is we've actually developed our proprietary heating technology, which technically can be applied across any part of the body. But we've done it in a way that it's going to be easier and comfortable for the gamers to use. And then also we use passive compression. You have seen passive compression shorts, t-shirts in the market. Again, similar premise, but we are doing passive compression at a certain level, which is not medical, but it's more in terms of wellness side of things. Sure. So let's show the video of the glove. You know, I would think that it would also be kind of a fashion statement that it's kind of cool to be wearing those gloves. What do you think about that? So we actually, we just didn't want to build something very functional, but also look very vanilla, right? So we actually want to build something that's going to resonate with the gaming culture who would want to really vary with pride. Really, you know, show who they are. We have a new version coming out in November. That's what we're going to unveil. The new glove is actually going to have some really cool technologies built in, including Saudi lighting built into the glove itself. You will see it soon enough. I think that's going to be even more fuller than what you see, what you saw here at this point. But I think it's what we were discussing or rather what we were contemplating was, you know, how do we bring functionality as well as, you know, aesthetics to this product? Because we really want to make it a statement that gamers have passion. Gamers, you know, want to wear something that's going to really, you know, work well with their personality. So that's how we looked at it. We're going to have different versions of the gloves that's going to come in in the future with the different teams that we're working with. And that's how we are sort of looking at taking it to market. We have a phenomenal partner ecosystem as well, who's working with us to take it to market and then really have some of those, you know, really differentiated designs to designs that's going to come in. Sure. And I could definitely see that a team might like their logo on it, or that even for a particular game like Overwatch or League of Legends, that there could be branding by them. So is that what you're thinking about? Yeah, that's somewhere definitely down the line. Those are all the discussions that's going on at this point. But different, mostly different teams, different games would have different versions of this glove that's going to come in with different functionalities, hopefully. The vision is really to have like, you know, create a culture around a product like this. And, you know, I believe that it can really change the way people how they're going to play games and really enjoy it and really make it comfortable. You know, I think there might be even a version that would be only for PC. There might be a version only for console. But I think future is still a bit of a mystery. But that's quite a bit of thoughts that we are working in the background. Sure. Let's show the next video with your next product. Amila, tell us about this one. So we call this body thermal management which we call short form is BTM. When we started our journey, we also realized like, so I am a person who kind of suffer from hyperhygrosis because I sweat a little bit excessively. And what we realized that gamers also go through, you know, similar conditions. And when you also like at a tournament, you also tend to play for longer and you might not necessarily have the chance to, you know, change your outfit. You might have to wear the same same t-shirt. We actually did research around this as well. So what we found out from our research was that out of the population that we did the research, almost 20 plus actually would wear a t-shirt for about 24 hours. And then we had about another significant 18 plus percentage would wear it for about almost 48 hours, right? That is maybe not the most hygiene way to do things. But here we've designed a t-shirt that has multiple properties. It has antimicrobial, then also what you call sweat moisture wicking, all those functionalities. But it also has a smart polymer built in, which is going to respond to your body temperature. What this is going to do is that when you start really heating up, when you start stress sweating, it's going to absorb that energy into that polymer and then store that energy. And then it's going to pull you down because now the energy is taken away as part of the heating process. And then when you start cooling down at a certain temperature activates and then start releasing that energy back, it keeps you warm at the same time. So it won't allow you to go get too hot or get too cold at a given time. So it has activation temperature that works on that. It's the same polymer company that we work with when Tesla did the space suit actually. And so we kind of use different technologies. And this BTM suit is very interesting because you can wear it for a longer period. You don't feel like you're wearing something. It's very lightweight. It's made out of also it's made out of recycled plastic, ocean plastic. So it has a sustainability angle plus it has a performance angle that we're working on. And we envision a future that almost all these sports teams are going to use this product because it's going to be built as an e-sports jersey. It's almost like a high performance jersey for gamers, professional athletes. And the reason for that is what you currently get in the market. Yes, you have some really good products, but very less functionality. So we want to really bring that functionality performance. Again, as I said, gametech really stands for performance, experience and wellness. So we really want to bring that performance piece into it. BTM falls under the advanced approach category. So anyone who wants to use a BTM, we can actually now start producing it. We've done the product testing and then the material development as well. So it's now actually in a commercial state. So we are hoping to get this product out to market in Q1 2024 with some of the partnership announcements that's coming up. So you can actually essentially provide the jerseys to anyone that is doing that is playing e-sports and other sports even. So if you look at some of the leading athletic or rather active brands, if you look at any traditional athlete, typically your gaming time is about an hour. If you are an ultra marathon runner or whatever, then it's a little bit longer. But most of the sports are like an hour, couple of hours. So your gear is kind of built to survive for that long. But here what we realized was that activa is not the route for us to go, but really build something that can help you to survive for like 48 hours at a stretch. You don't really have to think about, because usually what happens is when you work out what you do, you change the clothes and you get into a fresh set of clothes. Here it's like you're going to have a peak, you're going to come down again, you're going to have another peak, you're going to come down again. How do you sort of normalize that and keep you going for the longest time is what we think is really about. Sure. All right. Well, that's fantastic. So it's interesting that you have developed all of this and you're actually in Colombo Sri Lanka. And I mean, it's a great, you're a great example of someone who can be anywhere in the world and make, you know, develop a product and then look at the world and pick global markets. I met you in Chicago and I understand that you were actually in the United States going to several cities. So is that what you're doing now? Tell us how you're marketing to the US. Yeah. So there are two components. I think, first of all, like the broad organizers that I'm attached to has enabled us, given us the tools that we need to work on projects like this. If I was doing a typical startup, if I didn't have this backing from MS Holding, because challenge would have been trying to find funds for the research, trying to have like an ecosystem of experts who can help us develop some of these technologies. The technology that I've developed is actually due to the ecosystem that MS has in terms of and the commitment they've given in terms of research and innovation. Then in terms of business development, I've always felt that, you know, connecting with people, you know, and then really like, you know, trying to, you know, do work distance from a longer distance. I never really thought about it as a challenge because I think we live in a day and you know, there's like a lot of phenomenal tools. I mean, look at LinkedIn, right? It enables you to connect with anyone in the world if you're in a professional network. So I really felt very comfortable with that process. And then we also like, I literally traveled to US like at least three or four times a year, right? And spent a couple of weeks at each given time. And maybe next week will be much, much longer. But what I also did was when we started this journey, we really started reaching out to people who, whom I thought who would, who could add value. So I reached out to like people like, I'm not too sure whether you're familiar with William, the Professor Paulist. So he's the person who wrote the book of Esports. So he's one of the first people who responded to me, which I'm very, very truly appreciative of. He's like, hey, you know, you're onto something interesting. Tell me more about it. And then, you know, I've been in touch with him since 2018 and we build a relationship. Then one of the first Esports teams that we started working with was Oxygen Esports. Why? Because William co-founded that. And through that, I got an introduction and now we've been one of the long standing partners of Oxygen Esports. Then with some of those connections, then you kind of open up a network that was never accessible before. And then we also went for like multiple events. I've been to like tax east, tax south, then GDC, then some of the Esports bar association events, some of the tournaments we've been at, you know, a call of duty major tournament. We've been to a League of Legends major, you know, tournament. So we've done quite a bit of different events, really, you know, meeting people, trying to find like minded people, who also saw the potential in what you're doing. Because when you start this journey, not everyone's going to think, you know, this is something that's going to work well. Some, you know, are there for different reasons, but I believe in building a genuine network, working with like-minded people to help us scale this. And I think that's been a very rewarding and a very integrated journey because, I mean, like obviously I've been running this for five years and we're still pre-commercial. But it's been a phenomenal journey because of the people who's involved in this industry. And I feel like gaming and Esports industry, the people are a lot more connected, closer. And I don't think an outsider can come easily, but if they come with something that's going to add value, I think then people are going to take you a little bit more serious. And I think that's how I've been able to manage that network and really slowly, you know, understanding what else we can do, what that future is going to be. I understand there's a lot of global conditions that's currently in place, but I feel the future is going to be very hopeful. And I personally believe gaming and Esports would really, you know, sort of replace entertainment and sports to a great extent because people are going to, you know, be more engaged with, you know, virtual worlds in time to come. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. William Callis, who you mentioned, the professor who wrote the book of Esports, he was my second guest on my show. And that was back in 2020, July of 2020 or so. And what's interesting is that you provide a great example for people in Hawaii who were, you know, we're really super remote, but, you know, you're really far away from the United States, your target market. So Hawaii people should take a note from you in terms of what you can do. So let's show your website and while we're showing it, why don't you tell us how people can contact you and how they can get your product. So product will come into, will publish it towards Q1 next year. The website is getting an upgrade. So all the products will be available through the Gamertek website. At the moment, it's more of an informative site, but this is getting an upgrade. You should be able to purchase almost all the products that I spoke about through the gamertek.gg website. You can contact me via amela at gamertek.gg. That's my email address. And you also can connect me with via LinkedIn. It's amela.paterinon. LinkedIn. I think those are the two platforms that would be easiest to get through to me. And I look forward to hearing from all of you. All right. Amela, thank you so much. I'm really excited about your product. And I can't wait to see all the gamers wearing it. And thank you to our viewers who joined us today. And in two weeks, my guest will be Makayla Frank. We'll be talking about networking in the industry and more. See you then.