GMB - Tell us about the event — BiS SiGMA Americas, how did you see this year’s edition?
Pini Yakuel - Yes! So, I was actually here two years ago, and I’m excited to see how much the show has grown. It’s much bigger now, and it really reflects the growth of gaming in the region — Latin America in general, and Brazil specifically.
What innovations was Optimove bringing to this edition in Brazil?
At Optimove, we take a lot of pride in our innovation — we love to innovate all the time. We've been the first CRM marketing platform in the gaming industry since 2012, and we started working with machine learning and AI before it was even considered "cool."
We still invest heavily in AI and machine learning — especially generative AI — across our channels and in how people create content. We're constantly building a platform that satisfies everything an operator needs.
For example, we recently acquired a gamification company to bring gamified marketing into the Optimove platform and better meet our customers' needs.
Optimove is growing in Brazil like many companies, but you're one of the few focused on CRM, right?
That’s right. We just opened a Brazilian legal entity so we can serve our local clients directly. We’re studying all the tax implications and making sure we operate properly. We're proud to work with the best and brightest Brazilian operators like Betano, Betnacional, and the major ones like bet365.
In fact, the three biggest brands work with us — and many others too, like NoviBet — a lot of exciting operators rely on us.We currently have six or seven people in our Brazilian office, and we’re planning to grow the team and hire more locally.
And what was your goals for this event specifically?
The main goal was to connect with our existing customers. We’re a global company — I’m based in Tel Aviv, Israel — so I don’t often get to meet our clients face-to-face. Also, Brazil is a huge country, so even our local teams don't always get to connect in person.
We’re here to talk about plans, how we work together, and how we can grow together.
At the same time, we want to meet new prospects and potential clients who could benefit from our technology and become partners. That’s what we’re aiming to achieve here.
Strategic alliances between operators, providers, and payment companies are really important for the growth of the entire industry?
Absolutely. The gaming industry has always been great at that. If you look at more mature markets around the world, you’ll see that operators consistently partner with the best tech companies to create amazing player experiences.
That’s something we want to strengthen here as well — building stronger partnerships with various technology companies and expanding those collaborations.
How is the integration of new technologies evolving in the gaming industry, especially with AI?
AI is clearly taking over the world. Everyone’s trying to reduce production costs with better technologies and deliver things to market faster — whether it’s content, integrations, or tech solutions. That definitely applies to gaming too.
At Optimove, we’re always trying to innovate and find better solutions. We’re executing plans we’ve had for a while but couldn’t achieve before because the technology wasn’t there. Now it is — and we have some cool and exciting projects coming up.
How would you assess your company’s performance in the first quarter of the year, and what are your plans for the rest of 2025?
We’ve had a really strong growth spurt at Optimove. We’ve reached 550 employees globally just this quarter. We're expanding partnerships with strategic clients — growing accounts because Optimove can offer a wide range of new capabilities.
When clients first come to us, they don't usually adopt everything immediately. But over time, they want to use more and more of our technologies — and that was very noticeable in Q1. We’ve also signed a lot of new logos — meaning new clients that started working with us. And since you brought it up, I can share that we have a rebranding coming up — it’ll happen in June this year!
Source: Exclusive GMB
