MONTREAL, June 14, 2022–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Following a recent majority investment from GrowthCurve Capital, Mistplay (“Mistplay” or the “Company”), a leading play-and-earn and game discovery platform for mobile games, today announced the appointment of seven senior executives to further accelerate the Company’s next phase of growth. In partnership with Henri-Charles Machalani, Founder and CEO of Mistplay, Andrew Prozes, Executive Chairman, and Eugene Joannides, Co-Founder and COO, this group of talented and seasoned executives will help drive strategy and execution of Mistplay’s growth plans, including in its core business of delivering differentiated engagement with mobile gamers as well as expansion into new markets. These individuals represent a diverse group of highly accomplished executives in the gaming, data and analytics, and mobile industries, and will help further scale Mistplay’s platform:

• Giordano Contestabile, Chief Product Officer: As Chief Product Officer, Giordano will lead all areas of product development and user experience design. He brings 20 years of experience creating and managing online and mobile games, as well as consumer products, most recently at IAC, where he served as General Manager of iTranslate and VP of Product at Apalon. Prior to IAC, Giordano served as CEO at Bloglovin’, VP of Product Management and Revenue at Tilting Point, and as an Executive Producer at Electronic Arts, as well as holding several leadership roles at PopCap Games.

• Luca Fiaschi, Chief Data and AI Officer: As Chief Data and AI Officer, Luca Fiaschi will lead all aspects of Data Science, Machine Learning, AI, and Data Platforms for the Company. Luca brings nearly 15 years of experience in building and scaling cross-functional data science, machine learning, and engineering teams for disruptive digital-native companies across Europe, Asia, and North America. Prior to Mistplay, Luca served as VP of Machine Learning for Stitch Fix, VP Data of HelloFresh and Director of AdTech at Rocket Internet SE. Luca holds a PhD in Machine Learning and Computer Vision from Heidelberg University, Germany.

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• Jason Heller, Chief Growth Officer: As Chief Growth Officer, Jason Heller will lead the commercial, marketing, and user acquisition organizations. Jason brings 20+ years of experience driving digital and growth transformation for leading companies in technology, telecommunications, retail, eCommerce, fintech, and travel, most recently as Founder & CEO of Transformation Ventures. Previously, Jason served as President of Persado, Partner at McKinsey & Company where he was the global co-lead of the digital growth practice, CEO at Agiliti, and Managing Director of Horizon Media. Jason is also an Executive in Residence for Adobe, and an advisor to numerous marketing technology, data, and AI companies.

• Malvika Jethmalani, Chief People Officer: As Chief People Officer, Malvika will oversee all aspects of recruitment, organizational design, leadership development, talent and performance management, total rewards and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). She will help lead the thinking on the future of work at Mistplay and partner with the Company’s leadership to build talent capabilities which will prepare the business for its next phase of growth. Malvika most recently served as Chief People Officer at MDLIVE, a virtual healthcare provider. Prior to MDLIVE, she served as VP of Global Human Resources at Whole Earth Brands, and Global Talent Manager at Videojet Technologies, a Danaher company.

• Nicholas Kerr, Head of Loyalty: As Vice President of Loyalty, Nicholas will lead all aspects of loyalty and rewards for the Company. Nicholas brings almost 15 years of experience designing, implementing, and managing loyalty and rewards programs, most recently at Microsoft Rewards, where he led the rewards program for Xbox, among other responsibilities.

• Don Pratt, Chief Financial Officer: As Chief Financial Officer, Don brings 25+ years of experience and a proven track record as CFO to a variety of business models, most recently in the technology sector. He has worked extensively with companies to drive profitable and sustainable growth with a focus on VC/PE backed, founder-led businesses. Don previously served as CFO at RegEd, and prior to that, as CFO at Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, Jive Communications, Arbor Networks, and CFO & Treasurer at Ellacoya Networks.

• Deirdre Sheridan, General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer: As General Counsel, Deirdre brings significant experience in the areas of corporate compliance, global privacy and cybersecurity laws, technology and commercial transactions, and M&A. She previously served as VP & Counsel, Privacy, Data Governance, & Cybersecurity at Endeavor; prior to Endeavor, she served as Director, Senior Counsel, & Privacy Officer at Avon, a leading e-commerce and direct selling beauty company.

Henri-Charles Machalani, Founder and CEO of Mistplay, said, “Our new executives are world-class industry leaders and we’re extremely grateful to have them join our talented team. With their leadership, we will expand our existing platform and introduce new category-defining products to the mobile gaming industry. We have a very ambitious expansion plan ahead and look forward to working with this exceptional team to further accelerate all of our key strategic initiatives.”

Andrew Prozes, Executive Chairman of Mistplay and member of GrowthCurve’s Advisory Board, said, “We are thrilled to welcome this highly talented group of senior leaders to Mistplay. Investing behind the Company’s talent base is a key priority for GrowthCurve, the Board, and other key Mistplay stakeholders, and we look forward to working with this exceptional team to support the Company in its next phase of growth.”

About Mistplay

Mistplay is a leading play-and-earn and game discovery platform for mobile gamers. Millions of players around the world engage with Mistplay to discover new games and get rewarded while playing. To learn more, visit www.mistplay.com.

About GrowthCurve Capital

GrowthCurve Capital is a private equity firm focused on building world-class businesses by leveraging data, analytics, and machine learning, combined with a comprehensive approach to human capital, to accelerate growth and drive value creation. Founded by Sumit Rajpal, former Global Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, the firm focuses on control-oriented private equity investments primarily across the financial and information services, healthcare, and technology sectors. For more information, please visit www.growthcurvecapital.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.

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