Gambling.com secures $15.5m Edison Partners investment
Affiliate marketing provider Gambling.com Group has secured $15.5m (£12.6m/€14.0m) in new investment from growth equity investment firm Edison Partners.
Gambling.com Group said it will use the funds to enhance its marketing services in the expanding US online gambling sector, with a focus on accelerating certain investments in the market.
The provider, which cites the US as one of its key growth markets, also said New Jersey-based Edison Partners will support its US expansion plans as a strategic growth equity partner
According to Gambling.com Group, the new investment agreement represents one of the most significant deals between a US private equity fund and a performance marketing business focused on online gambling and sports betting.
“We greatly look forward to bringing on Edison as our teammate in our new American journey,” Gambling.com Group chief executive, Charles Gillespie, said. “Edison is the right partner at the right time, and I expect our collaboration to deliver powerful results.
“Their investment in the Group validates our thesis that we are the performance marketing and content platform best positioned to benefit from the expansion of regulated online gambling in the United States.”
Gambling.com Group holds licenses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and recently opened a new office in North Carolina. The provider was also the first sports betting media group to be accepted as a member of the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE).
Chris Sugden, managing partner at Edison Partners, added: “The company will continue to monetize the large market opportunity in Europe while increasing investment in the US online gaming is expanding significantly as regulations are modified on a state-by-state basis.”
Edison Partners, which manages more than $1.4bn in assets, will satisfy the new investment through a combination of new ordinary shares in Gambling.com and a sale of existing ordinary shares in Gambling.com by a previous shareholder.
The investment will sit in Edison Partners’ latest fund that closed in December 2018, with a size of $365m.
Last month, Gambling.com Group reported an increase in revenue for the first half of the year. Revenue was up by 34% year-on-year to €9.67m, with almost all of the rise attributable to organic growth.