Wijnand Baretta

Pascolo, 1999–2007

Software company, founded in April 1999: sports games on the internet, and later on mobile phones. Grew to 35 people in Amsterdam and Izmir, and is now part of EPAM.

  1. 1999

    A prediction game for the Rugby World Cup

    The first product: a prediction game for the Rugby World Cup, paid for by advertising.

    The ads earned little. The real customers turned out to be publishers and portals.

  2. 2000

    Euro 2000

    A game for the European Football Championship. Clients in England: LineOne and Football365. In the Netherlands: Freeler.

    The first employee, and the first office, on the Wibautstraat in Amsterdam.

  3. 1999–2007

    Fantasy and prediction games

    For the World Cup and the European Championship, the Eredivisie, the Rugby World Cup and the Tour de France, and the Rabo AD Rondemaster for cycling.

  4. Together with Infostrada Sports

    Infostrada supplied the sports data; Pascolo built the games and services. Built together:

    1. Games

      AD Rondemaster, Eredivisie Profcoach, Tour de France games, and projects in Denmark and Norway.

    2. On mobile phones

      The KPN goal alert and Vodafone's World Cup project.

    3. Club sites

      Mobile sites for Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord.

    4. from 2004

      Sportsplaza

      A mobile sports portal. By 2006 it ran in nine countries, at 21 mobile operators. In the Netherlands on all five mobile networks (KPN, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange and Telfort), with Eredivisie goal alerts from 2004 and Premier League goals on KPN i-mode and Vodafone Live! from 2005. In Belgium on Proximus, Mobistar and Base. Rights to Wimbledon and the Tour de France followed in 2006.

      Won an i-mode award. In 2007 it was one of the three most visited mobile portals in the Netherlands, when Sport1, part of Liberty Global's Chellomedia, bought it from Infostrada Sports.

  5. Other work

    For Chello, and for the Lotto and De Telegraaf, among others.

  6. A second office in Izmir

    A development team of its own in Izmir, Turkey.

  7. 2007

    Leaving

    Left Pascolo on 1 January 2008.

    From his farewell e-mail (2007): Pascolo is inmiddels gegroeid naar 25 werknemers in Amsterdam en 10 in de near-shore vestiging in Izmir, Turkije.

    In English: Pascolo has grown to 25 employees in Amsterdam and 10 at the near-shore office in Izmir, Turkey.

  8. After

    Pascolo continued as Relephant. Emakina bought a majority of Relephant in 2013, and Emakina has been part of EPAM since 2021.

From his farewell e-mail (2007): "Is dat erg of is dat mooi? Dat is erg, omdat je je in ruim 8 jaar identificeert met een bedrijf, en dat is daarom juist mooi, omdat er zoveel meer is dan een bedrijf."

In English: "Is that bad, or is it good? It's bad, because over more than eight years you come to identify with a company, and that is exactly why it's good: there is so much more than a company."

Sources