Two industry execs have set up a new investment firm, GCube Ventures, which is planning to fund a variety of games firms, from startups to established public companies.

They're looking beyond traditional business models, and aiming to make the most of new digital business models.

"The opportunity is not an industry consolidation but a transformation as online is forcing companies to change what they do," one of them, ex-THQ exec Shiraz Akmal, tells VentureBeat.

It seems that GCube will be looking beyond developers and publishers, and focusing more on digital distribution firms, training schools, middleware providers and social games platforms. Its first deals are due to be announced in a matter of weeks.

"Our investments will be stage agnostic," says Akmal's partner Jawad Ansari. "We focus on interactive entertainment, looking for companies with hidden value. We can go from seed stage to a roll-up that involves a massive dollar amount."

Neither mentions mobile as coming into their thinking, but the news of GCube's plans will surely be of interest to a number of companies in this industry, particularly those looking beyond mobile to other platforms, particularly Facebook and other social networks.

Meanwhile, mobile publishers could become targets for the kind of 'roll-up' referred to by Ansari.