David Ajanjan: Redefining the Business of Technology Investment

Technology investment is increasingly about more than spotting emerging technologies. It requires a clear understanding of real business problems, the ability to recognize practical opportunities, and the ability to turn promising ideas into sustainable businesses. As AI, digital finance, Web3 and other emerging technologies continue to reshape industries, leaders who can connect technical expertise with business thinking are helping build the next generation of technology ventures.

David Ajanjan, Founder & CEO of Riddec Venture Studio, brings more than 14 years of experience across software, online gaming, digital finance, investment, and venture building. From engineering and leading technical teams at Betsson Group to transforming Riddec into a venture studio, his journey has been shaped by a hands-on understanding of technology and business. Through Riddec, he brings together capital, engineering, product and operational expertise to identify meaningful problems, validate opportunities and build technology companies with long-term potential.

Experience That Shaped the Vision

David’s experience across technology and business has shaped the way he approaches venture building at Riddec. Working across platform development, technical leadership, investment and technology ventures gave him a close view of what businesses need beyond strong technology: clear problems, capable teams, practical execution and a path to sustainable growth. He has also managed three investment funds, giving him direct experience in evaluating opportunities, allocating capital and working on investment decisions. This understanding became central to how he built Riddec and how he evaluates opportunities today.

Founded in Tallinn in 2012, the company has grown to around 40 people across Tallinn, Dubai and Nairobi and has delivered more than 100 projects across gaming, fintech and blockchain. Its track record includes building OlyBet’s bonus engine, which delivered a tenfold increase in user retention, and a European Commission language-learning project spanning 20 countries and 18 languages. Its own ventures include XGateway, Riddec Games and Helmir.

Building Beyond the Code

David founded Riddec in Tallinn in 2012 as a software house, initially serving online gaming businesses that needed platforms built quickly and built to handle heavy traffic. His experience as a Technical Team Leader at Betsson Group from 2013 to 2015, where he led platform and IT work with up to 25 engineers, gave him a deeper understanding of what it takes to keep complex technology and teams performing reliably.

Working closely with clients also changed how he viewed the opportunity. Riddec helped build the original Coolbet platform, which was later acquired by GAN for $175.9 million. Being close to the foundations of successful businesses led him to a simple question: if Riddec was helping build these companies, why not build its own? That question marked a turning point, transforming Riddec from a software house into a venture studio.

Those experiences shaped a leadership philosophy centered on strong people, honest communication and staying close to the work. David believes in hiring people who are better than him at what they do, telling them the truth early and remaining involved enough to recognize when something is wrong. For him, leadership is not about stepping away from technology, but about using years of technical and operational experience to build stronger companies and teams.

A Venture Studio Built Around Practical Advantage

Riddec takes a hands-on approach to building companies. Unlike traditional venture capital firms that primarily provide funding or accelerators that operate within a fixed program, Riddec places its engineers, product specialists and operators into a venture from the beginning and stays involved as it grows. With around 40 people across Tallinn, Dubai and Nairobi and 14 years of experience building technology for gaming, FX and digital finance, the studio brings established capabilities, industry knowledge and infrastructure to new ventures rather than starting from zero.

David evaluates opportunities through three simple questions: Will this problem still matter in ten years? Who will carry it? And what unfair advantage does Riddec have? This framework helps the studio assess the longevity of a problem, the people capable of solving it and the strengths Riddec can genuinely contribute. Each venture can also draw on technology, customer relationships and knowledge developed through previous projects, giving founders a foundation to move faster while allowing capital to remain focused on products and customers rather than rebuilding existing infrastructure.

Where Technology Investment Is Heading

David sees three major shifts shaping technology investment over the next five years. Stablecoins are moving toward everyday business use, including settlement, supplier payments and payroll, while compliance is becoming increasingly software-driven as digital-asset regulations grow more demanding. At the same time, AI is expected to play a larger role in financial operations, from monitoring accounts and automating reconciliation to bringing people into the process when human judgment is required.

Riddec is positioning itself around the intelligence that sits above financial infrastructure. XGateway focuses on digital payments across crypto and fiat, while Helmir is being developed around treasury management for businesses handling crypto flows. For David, the opportunity extends beyond simply moving money. It lies in understanding where money is, whether it meets compliance requirements and how it can be managed more effectively. As he puts it, “Rails commoditise; intelligence compounds.” This focus on combining technology with practical business intelligence continues to shape where Riddec invests and builds next.

Turning Client Problems into New Ventures

Some of Riddec’s strongest ventures have emerged directly from problems its clients were facing. After years of building platforms for gaming and FX operators, clients began looking for better ways to move money on-chain and support crypto payments. Riddec responded by building XGateway, a platform that brings crypto and fiat payments together through a single integration. Over the last 12 months, XGateway has processed $25 million across 48 merchants worldwide, taking its total transaction volume since launch beyond $45 million. The platform has also completed more than 70 integrations in two years of live production.

The experience with digital payments revealed another challenge: businesses often struggled to manage assets spread across wallets, exchanges and payment providers. That insight led to Helmir, a Riddec spin-out focused on treasury management for businesses handling crypto flows. David serves as Executive Chairman, while Simone Vernacchia leads the company as interim CEO. For David, the value of the venture studio model lies in its ability to turn problems observed directly in the market into practical solutions, bringing the right people and technology together to build ventures around genuine business needs.

Five Key Milestones

1. 2012 | Riddec Founded
   1. Founded Riddec in Tallinn as a software house serving the online gaming industry.
2. 100+ Projects Delivered
   1. Delivered technology projects across gaming, fintech and blockchain.
3. 2021 | Coolbet Milestone
   1. Helped build the original Coolbet platform, later acquired by GAN for $175.9 million.
4. 40-Person Global Team
   1. Built a team of around 40 people across Tallinn, Dubai and Nairobi.
5. Three Ventures Built
   1. Built and launched XGateway and Riddec Games, with Helmir currently preparing for launch.

Leading Through a Difficult Transition

One of David’s most difficult periods came when Riddec reorganized to put more people and capital behind its own products. The shift required a leaner team on some projects, colleagues moving on, and several difficult decisions within a short period. During this time, a senior engineer told him directly that he had been under-communicating. David recognized the feedback immediately and acknowledged it publicly the same day.

The experience changed how he approached communication during difficult periods. He introduced company-wide all-hands meetings and monthly one-on-ones with every team member, making communication a regular practice rather than something reserved for major announcements. The lesson stayed with him: people can handle difficult facts, but they struggle when left to guess what is happening. Today, when circumstances become challenging, David believes leaders should communicate more, not less.

Sharing Knowledge Beyond the Business

David shares much of his knowledge through direct conversations with founders, team leaders, and operators he has worked with over the years. He also contributes to the wider technology and investment community through speaking engagements and industry discussions focused on gaming, payments, Web3, blockchain, and digital finance. His engagements include the FUELD Conference, Dubai Family Office Investment Summit, and Impact Investments Conference, covering Web3, blockchain, fintech, and sustainable investment. He was also named Impact Visionary Leader & Innovator 2024 by Impact Publishers.

His approach to knowledge sharing is shaped by his own experiences. Alongside learning from people who generously shared their expertise, he has continued his education through programs from Harvard and MIT. Today, he believes some of the most useful lessons come from discussing what went wrong rather than simply celebrating success. By sharing mistakes, lessons, and practical experiences, he aims to help other founders make better-informed decisions and avoid unnecessary costs and setbacks.

A Disciplined Lens for Investment Decisions

For David, investment evaluation begins with a real customer problem, often one identified through Riddec’s existing client relationships. Rather than committing significant resources to an untested idea, the team starts small, develops an early version of the product and puts it in front of trusted customers. Their response provides an important signal about whether the problem is genuine and whether the venture has enough potential to move forward.

This approach keeps investment decisions grounded in customer validation rather than assumptions. David believes meaningful opportunities are built with customers who are willing to engage early, commit to the solution and help shape it through real feedback. For him, the clearest signal of potential is simple: They have a customer before they have a pitch deck. The ones that fail usually have it the other way round. By testing demand before scaling, Riddec can identify what works, learn quickly and avoid committing major resources to ideas that have not demonstrated a genuine market need.

Before and After the Leadership Journey

Before Leadership

• Software engineering and technical work
• Building platforms hands-on
• Leading engineering teams
• Deep focus on online gaming
• Measuring success through code shipped

As a Leader

• Building and leading Riddec
• Creating and scaling technology ventures
• Developing teams and future leaders
• Expanding across payments, treasury, and gaming
• Measuring success through decisions and people unblocked

Integrated Trust in the Enterprise

For David, trust is closely tied to how technology performs in regulated industries. Riddec builds governance and accountability into its ventures from the beginning, with a focus on transparency, risk management and clear responsibility. Helmir, for example, operates as a non-custodial platform, meaning client funds do not sit with the company and cannot be moved by it. Helmir’s lending engine has undergone an independent audit ahead of the platform’s launch, reinforcing the importance of external validation in financial technology.

The same principles extend to reporting and decision-making. David believes it is better to present a smaller, accurate figure than make claims that cannot be clearly supported. He also sees accountability as a two-way responsibility, where leaders must be open to scrutiny and willing to act on feedback. For him, a culture of honesty is built when transparency is practiced at every level, from how a venture manages customer funds to how its leaders communicate facts and make decisions.

A Day in a Leader’s Life

• 07:00 | Morning
  • Getting the kids ready for school and starting the day with family.
• 08:00 | Morning Brief
  • Reviewing market, crypto, and industry news through an AI-generated daily brief.
• 13:00 | Midday
  • Meeting founders, investors, and operators, often over lunch in Dubai.
• Daytime | Leadership & Ventures
  • Working across Riddec, XGateway and Helmir on products, teams and priorities.
• 18:00 | Evening
  • Connecting with European partners and reading about payments, regulation, and AI.
• 22:00 | Wind-Down
  • Reading, solving wooden puzzles, playing games, or exploring his interest in watches.

Open Letter

Dear builders,
Start with a problem someone will pay you to solve this month. Not a trend. Trends change every year. The problems of people who run businesses change very slowly.Stay close to your customers. Every product we have built well came from a customer telling us what was broken. Every one we built badly came from us guessing.

Say what is real. Don’t round up your numbers, your traction, or your experience. Facts that are discovered later always read as facts that were hidden.Hire people who are better than you, and tell them the truth early, especially when it is bad news.

To investors: back people who have already done the hard, unglamorous version of the work.And be patient. Riddec is 14 years old. Most of what I am proudest of took longer than I planned.
David Ajanjan – Founder & CEO
RIDDEC | Venture Studio

Quick Takes

Five Key Takeaways

• Start With Real Problems
  • Build around problems customers genuinely need solved.
• Build With the Right People
  • Hire strong people and give them room to excel.
• Test Before You Scale
  • Validate demand with customers before committing major resources.
• Lead With Transparency
  • Communicate early, be honest with numbers, and learn from feedback.
• Think Long Term
  • Meaningful companies take time, persistence, and patience to build.