Apart from being local television personalities, Kim Atienza and Isabelle Daza have also dabbled into business, particularly into mobile gaming.

Atienza and Daza are just two partners of start-up company Xeleb Technologies Inc. with a celebrity status. Others include actress-host Anne Curtis and chef Erwan Heussaff.

Xeleb CEO Raymond Racaza said, in an interview on ANC's Headstart Friday, estimates indicate that the global gaming market is a $40-billion industry.

Racaza noted, time spent by people on their phones is high, especially in emerging markets like the Philippines. "It’s one of the top activities that people do on their mobile phones," he said.

The beauty of creating mobile games, he said, is that it is a digital product whose profitability is not comparable to a traditional company.

He said, they consider themselves a "digital superstore," that never runs out of inventory, is open 24/7, and with all smartphone-owning Filipino having access to it.

The company, which is majority-owned by tech firm Xurpas Inc., is focused on developing celebrity-branded and themed casual games.

• READ: How bootstrapping helped build Xurpas

Daza, who starred in the recently concluded ABS-CBN show 'Tubig at Langis,' so far has been loving the ride.

"I love having this because I am learning about other things and it gives me something to do while I’m on my sabbatical from the teleserye life. This is going to be the next form of media, celebrity media, and entertainment," she said.

Atienza, best known for his weather and trivia segment within TV Patrol and as one of the hosts of "It's Showtime," is pumped that with this venture, they are heading the right direction.

"The future is mobile content, and people are going to be watching their phones, doing everything on their phones, playing games on their phones, and watching televisions on their phones," he said.

"Xeleb is going to be there. We’re gonna be there when people are looking for that content," added Daza.

Both Daza and Atienza put in time into the company almost every day, helping in different aspects of the business. Daza, for one, said she handles the marketing side.

"We’re all trying to learn from Raymond, and what he says, we try to absorb and, how do we use our influence to make that beneficial for us as celebrities," she said.

She added, they also want to make their status a tool to make investing more understandable to many.

Racaza, for his part, admitted that he chose his celebrity partners—who also happened to be his teammates in a triathlon event—because of their characters.

"These guys are role models. The persona of who they are as you see is who they are in real life. One thing that really amazed me about them, knowing them, is that they don’t have any complex—meaning, they’re real people," he said.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR XELEB?

Apart from the initial public offering they are hoping to launch by December to be able to raise P800-million, Racaza revealed that they are also gearing for expansion.

Since Xurpas went public in December 2014, Racaza said, they have entered into at least 40 "transactions." They bought stakes in international companies, including Singapore-based firm Art of Click and Hong Kong-based mobile HR solutions firm Micro Benefits Financial Consulting to name a few.

Racaza revealed, Xeleb is heading towards the direction of Xurpas,

"Right now, we are transitioning or adding a platform to what we are doing. That’s really the strategic direction—getting pieces of technology to build around the platform," he said.

"One of the goals and one of the strategic directions for Xeleb as well is to expand outside the Philippines. Our goal is not just to reach 101 million Filipinos—our goal is to reach over 600 million population of ASEAN," he added

Racaza said they plan to also tap southeast Asian and Asian celebrities to be stars of their games. Atienza added, Daza is "about to talk to some people in Indonesia."