Entain owns a bevy of online brands such as bwin and Ladbrokes across sports betting, casino, poker, and bingo games. It processed more than US$16 billion of sports wagers in 2020, and employs more than 24,000 people worldwide across 20 offices.
Unikrn is temporarily halting its services as the deal is completed.
Rahul Sood, who previously led Microsoft Ventures, and tech vet Karl Flores founded the company. Flores took over for Sood as CEO last year, and will join Entain along with Unikrn’s other employees. The company has around 40 employees, according to LinkedIn.
“It’s been a fun journey with celebrations, challenges, and tons of happiness. I’m excited about the future of Unikrn and Entain, and I’m gonna start looking for something cool to do again,” Sood told GeekWire
Entain said it has hired former Twitch exec Justin Dellario to lead esports operations.
“One exciting opportunity is the growing esports skill-based wagering market. We are building the first scalable platform to address this market and I am delighted that Justin Dellario is joining us to lead our growth in this new area,” Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen said in a statement.
Entain estimates that esports wagering and social casino-related markets could add US$20 billion in addressable market share by 2025.
Unikrn also raised US$31 million for an initial coin offering four years ago, but ran into legal trouble. Earlier this year the company paid a $6.1 million fine and was forced to disable its UnikoinGold (UKG) cryptocurrency to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it conducted an unregistered initial coin offering in violation of federal securities laws.
In 2018, Unikrn was sued on allegations that the company skirted federal regulations during the initial coin offering, or ICO.
Unikrn raised US$10 million as part of an equity round in 2014. Other private backers included Advancit Capital, Freelands Group, 500 Startups, Indicator Ventures, Tabcorp, and now-closed Binary Capital.
Source: Geek Wire
