Ebbe Groes, CEO of EveryMatrix, discusses the strategic rationale behind acquiring FSB Technology and how this move enhances the company’s sportsbook platform, strengthens its market presence in Africa and Europe, and underscores its commitment to innovation and scalability in the iGaming sector.
Q: What is EveryMatrix’s M&A strategy now that you’ve got three deals over the line in three years?
Ebbe Groes: We’re looking to invest in the future of the company through M&A. To succeed this must bring added profitability that stands in relation to the investment we make, not only in acquiring the target company but also the – often substantial – effort and resources spent during integration.
We can have different motives and past acquisitions show this. DeepCI was very product driven. FSB, on the other hand, is a market-driven deal. They brought a strong set of clients and a strong market presence for us to use and win both instant and increasing market share.
What they have in common – and hopefully all future acquisitions – is strong synergies with EveryMatrix. This can be revenue synergies, upselling a new product to our large existing client portfolio – or upselling our products to the portfolio of the target company. It can also be revenue synergies, whether in using scale to reduce costs through more efficient procurement or migrating from one product to another and reducing overall costs.
M&A in iGaming must be viewed differently between B2C and B2B iGaming. In B2B, where we find ourselves, the last few years have seen a strong trend of B2C operators buying software capabilities combined with the consolidation of some of the largest B2B providers. The threshold for being a credible B2B provider is gradually increasing. We’re now part of this and we would expect further consolidation of the main turnkey providers – like our FSB acquisition – while a continued appearance of interesting niche / single-product specialist companies which can eventually become part of multi-vertical suppliers – like our DeepCI acquisition.
Q: What is EveryMatrix’s appetite for future M&A?
Ebbe Groes: M&A and consolidation may have slowed down compared to say five years ago, but there is an increasing amount of innovation in this sector and many more startups and disruptors. This is particularly the case in data automation and AI across all areas of iGaming. I can see these being relevant and beneficial to both operators and suppliers in the years to come.
Completing the FSB deal has been a big achievement for us and is our most ambitious acquisition to
date, by value, size, and complexity. Our ability to quickly transact and get this over the line so smoothly has been very impressive.
We’ve funded these deals with our profits and by reinvesting the funds we’ve generated through our rapid growth to enable us to grow even more in the future. This has been a very successful model. I would never rule anything out, but for now, we’re focusing on incorporating key FSB features into our offering, including what has been recognised as one of the strongest horse racing products among sportsbook providers, and to migrate FSB customers to our technology platforms.
These customers will also benefit from our superior modular products including casino, games and aggregation, payments, player account management, managed services and affiliate management and data tracking. Once migrated to OddsMatrix, they will gain access to proven, tier-1 sportsbook and odds feed products, as well as our technology, development and resource pipeline, decades of industry expertise within our 1,000-employee-strong workforce across 13 locations worldwide and a global network of partners.