The Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Expo will host the fifth edition of its popular Investment Conference for entrepreneurs with the “next big interactive business” idea.

ATLANTA, GA.(Aug. 11, 2015) – The Georgia Game Developers Association today announced it has 10 openings at its Oct. 9 Investment Conference for creative entrepreneurs developing interactive-based businesses. The investment program, held as part of the GGDA’s flagship SIEGE conference, provides an opportunity to connect the interactive industries in Georgia, including video game and app developers, with interested investors.

Participants in the investment program, sponsored by Tripwire Interactive and the State Tax Credit Exchange, receive mentoring and compete to win free legal consulting and a cash prize of $1000, in addition to meeting with leading investors. Companies and individuals wanting to pitch can apply via:

http://www.siegecon.net/events/investment

“We hope to continue to build on our prior successful programs by attracting more developers with products that support health, exercise and education and, for those focused on entertainment, that offer compelling gameplay, stories, art and music,” said Rob Hassett, an attorney at Gilson Athans P.C. and co-chair of the investment program.

“We have three goals. The first is to help artists and developers become more savvy entrepreneurs. The second is to help entrepreneurs with a worthy business model obtain necessary funding. The third is to steer potential investors into ventures that are more likely to be successful to increase the pool of cash available,” Hassett said.

Jay O’Toole, a professor at Georgia State University and the other co-chair of the Investment Program, said, “We are now reaching beyond just video game studios to other interactive businesses, Many of the best software developers are or were in the video game industry. They can and do cross back and forth between various types of development, and we are going with them.”

Taking place in Atlanta, GA, SIEGE is the largest professional game development conference in the Southern United States. Since 2007, SIEGE has featured leading figures from the industry and has hosted panels reflecting a wide spectrum of the game production industry including artists, programmers, designers, investors, writers, teachers and business executives. The event also showcases a College Fair for high school students and a Game Studio Investment Conference.