Matchbook CEO: New investor will help us topple Betfair
Mark Brosnan says recent deal will boost operator's horseracing product and give it cash to spend on M&A
Matchbook has claimed it is poised to end Betfair’s dominance of the exchange market following a new investment transaction that will “significantly strengthen” its horseracing product.
The identity of the new investor was not disclosed but Matchbook CEO Mark Brosnan told EGR it was a group with “expertise in odds compilation and trading in international horseracing”.
The transaction will see the investor offer trading advice and push their connections to bet and trade into Matchbook’s liquidity pools.
The investor also took an ownership stake in the firm.
Brosnan said the deal, which was signed three weeks ago and announced this week, had already seen racing liquidity increase by 60% and average stakes increase by 300%.
“The shackles are well and truly off,” Brosnan said. “The strategic nature of the investment puts us in a very strong position to end Betfair’s dominance of the betting exchange market.
“While our product was always strong, without horseracing parity it wasn’t compelling enough to bring punters across and have that full share of wallet. Now we think we are on parity from a technology and liquidity standpoint.”
Matchbook CEO Mark Brosnan
The deal also gives the operator a cash injection which Brosnan said would be directed towards marketing, technology investment, and potential M&A.
“We may look at M&A to accelerate that growth over the next 12 months,” he said. “We would look at opportunities around bringing our risk management to the fore.
“We believe we have a very strong technology stack with a strong ability to manage risk quite automatically without a large trading team over horseracing, European sports and US sports and we think that basket of good is quite unique in the breadth of that coverage. And that enables us to look at lots of different opportunities.”
Brosnan said one potential target could be a sportsbook brand, with Matchbook providing the underlying technology and risk management services.
“That’s one of many options,” he added. “We’re also working on several B2B deals that would leverage those attributes which will be announced in due course.”