Darren Newnham

Country Manager & Business Development - UK & Ireland

Xsolla

May 2026 - Current (4 months)

CEO & Co-Founder

The CoLab

Sep 2024 - Current (2 years)

Founded a boutique independent games publisher focused on elevating solo and small-team developers. Established partnerships with global brands. - Developed innovative royalty-share business models covering QA, localisation, marketing, and influencer campaigns. - Built a growing portfolio of indie titles and partner collaborations, expanding brand presence across PC and console markets.

Chief Executive Officer

United Label

Jul 2021 - Jun 2024 (3 years)

Led strategic and commercial operations for the United Label publishing business while driving business development for the wider CI Games Group. - Delivered $x million net revenue, negotiating major first-party distribution deals including a large single-game agreement with 1st parties. - Identified and executed new platform opportunities (Meta VR, Amazon Luna, Open AI). - Reported market insights, KPIs, and new growth areas to supervisory board and shareholders.

Advisory Board Member

British Esports Association

Oct 2018 - Feb 2021 (2 years 5 months)

Supporting the 3 main goals of the British Esports Association to Promote, Improve and Inspire the next generation of UK Esports talent.

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CEO & Founder

Nexus Ltd

Jan 2017 - Sep 2019 (2 years 9 months)

Nexus brings esports organisations, players, sponsors, developers and publishers together to create engaging brand opportunities and forge successful long term partnerships. We offer expertise on all aspects of esports, from team creation/management to social media planning, commercial sponsorship opportunities to simple free advice on the esports industry.

Director Of Business Development & 3rd Party Content

Ginx TV Ltd

Jan 2017 - Dec 2017 (1 year)

Secured TV broadcast rights from several large Publishers and Tournament Organisers. I oversaw all aspects of sponsorship from deal structure, commercial and legal negotiations, delivery of content and follow up reports and debriefs. Ensuring throughout that all stakeholders were informed and prepared to deliver against the commercial milestones.

Head of Business Development

Fnatic

Mar 2016 - Dec 2016 (10 months)

Responsible for all aspects of commercial, business development and sponsorships for Fnatic I increased & secured key partnerships increasing year on year value. This was secured by maximizing already existing partnerships by introducing key account management principles and increasing new partners via creating hit lists and contact processes. I ensured deliverables were exceeded by managing objectives with pro players, managers, c-level partners and the Fnatic Board.

Business Development Manager

The Walt Disney Company

Sep 2013 - Feb 2016 (2 years 6 months)

Owned P&L for digital and Club Penguin divisions, delivering over $x million in incremental digital sales. - Built cross-functional partnerships and streamlined commercial processes across EMEA. - Created new business models for digital distribution and promotional partnerships.

Head Of Digital

Winning Moves

Aug 2012 - Sep 2013 (1 year 2 months)

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Head Of Content

TeePee Games

Jan 2010 - Aug 2012 (2 years 8 months)

Business Development Manager

SEGA Europe

Jul 2005 - Dec 2009 (4 years 6 months)

Created SEGA Europe’s mobile division, hiring teams and delivering the first mobile strategy for Europe. - Owned full P&L ($15 million) and delivered multi-year growth plans. - Secured £x million minimum-guarantee licensing deal and strengthened SEGA’s regional brand presence.

Business Development Manager

O UK

Oct 2002 - Jul 2005 (2 years 10 months)

Working alongside the Head Of Products my role at O2 was to manage the Content Partners, the consumer facing portal (merchandising), legal contracts, marketing initiatives and overall business plan (inc download and revenue reports). Re-negotiated all commercial contracts for the department increased revenue %. Introducing new ideas I increased downloads by 110% on the previous year. Improved the refresh rate of the portal increasing traffic and downloads. Pushed O2’s content downloads to reach number 1 spot in UK (38% market share).

Commercial Manager

Three UK

Jul 2000 - Sep 2003 (3 years 3 months)

Defining strategy and negotiating the world's first 3G deals for the UK operating company, as well as Hutchison Whampoa's affiliates worldwide. Delivered agreements with games publishers - THQ, iFone, Konami, Real Networks.

Media Business Development Manager

Hutchison G

Jul 2000 - Sep 2003 (3 years 3 months)

Responsible for commercial negotiations with media companies and the on-going management of partnerships. Negotiated with media, entertainment, games, service provisions, technology, rights management and multinational companies. Liaised and advised internal teams, devising strategy for partnership and seeking long-term basis for relationship with external companies. Delivered content to Hutchison’s 15 sister OpCo’s around the world by negotiating worldwide rights in all content deals.

Senior Games Buyer

HMV UK Ltd

May 1995 - Jul 2000 (5 years 3 months)

Set up games department in the Bromley store, consistently increasing profits year on year I was asked to join the buying team. Responsible for buying in all Games product across PC CDROM & Console formats for 135 HMV stores. Negotiated best terms from publishers and distributors. Negotiated returns and mark-downs. Continually improved HMV’s sales figures year on year during my time. I saw the potential of online retail and helped set up the games area for the new HMV online venture HMV.co.uk. Organised special offers and clearout sales, chose the best games to be merchandised and negotiated added value items for pre-order incentives. Gained an understanding of e-commerce and gained presentation skills to ensure maximum impact sales techn

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