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Below is our recent interview with Maksym Liasko, Co-CEO at Parimatch:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
A: Parimatch Tech is an international product company that promotes Parimatch brand globally and provides tech and marketing solutions in the gaming and entertainment industry. Starting as a singular physical betting shop in Kyiv in 1994, we have since grown into an entertainment platform represented on four continents and in more than ten countries, with 2.6 million users worldwide. Our main office is located in Limassol, Cyprus, with development centers in Ukraine, Cyprus, Armenia, and Belarus.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your offering?
A: We are a software and centralised marketing provider that works with partners in established and emerging markets to provide the bespoke technology they need to roll out leading sports betting and gaming platforms locally.
A significant part of our business focuses on attracting and leveraging our vibrant team of ambassadors who promote Parimatch Tech’s fighting spirit. This includes MMA superstar Conor McGregor, UFC fighters Petr Yan and the Shevchenko sisters; and a famous former brand representative is the legendary king of the boxing ring, Mike Tyson. We also have partnership agreements with football clubs Juventus, Leicester City, and Everton.
Q: Any highlights on your recent announcement?
A: We are so pleased to officially announce our evolution from Parimatch to ‘Parimatch Tech’, which encapsulates our transition from a traditional betting company to a fully digitalised and product-focused technology business. We have come a long way from a local bookmaker in Kyiv 27 years ago, and this name change represents that. Our technological transformation began in earnest back in 2010 when only 5% of punters were betting online. The name change is a natural step for us as a company and formalises and reflects our technological transformation.
The aim of this rebrand is also to highlight the globalisation of the business and generate brand awareness among partners and users around the world. Having already consolidated our leading position in the CIS region, Parimatch Tech is bringing the Parimatch brand to international markets via its partners in Ukraine, Cyprus, the UK, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria, as well as other countries in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
Q: Tell us a bit about your co-CEO management model.
A: The announcement made a few months ago that I together with Roman Syrotian would take on the position of Co-CEO is not standard practice, even if many companies use this model de facto. Many businesses might not want to admit that they have a Co-CEO structure, however we find that equally dividing influence over decision-making processes within the company has clear benefits.
Roman and I have completely separate zones of influence, with him being responsible for tech, marketing and product issues while I focus on finance, legal, communication and operations. This means we do not feel the need to compete in decision making, but rather complement each other. We also have five years of experience working together as partners at the company that has put our way of working to the test over time. We have made improvements continuously to how we work and found a balance that is perfect for us.
Q: How do you see your business developing over the next few years?
As our name change suggests, Parimatch Tech focused on ramping up the digitalisation of our business at the moment. We are planning for the rapid increase in internet content consumption to continue, which will require continued technological development from us to ensure we can live up to consumer expectations.
We also look forward to entering many more exciting partnerships with betting companies around the world in the next few years and help them improve their offerings. Key to achieving this is to continue to find new avenues for us to boost brand awareness of our business. This involves continued support for certain types of sports, like MMA and esports, where we have already found a successful niche.
Esports is a rapidly growing category for us and we will continue looking at how to actively develop our offering for that sector by providing fans with a wide range of betting events. The Parimatch brand is already the title sponsor of the esports organisation Virtus.Proa and counts esports stars Daniil ‘Zeus’ Teslenko and Marcelo David ‘Сoldzera’ as global brand ambassadors. Esports is an incredibly exciting industry that we are pioneering, especially in many Eastern European and emerging markets, with a large part of our leadership team being avid gamers themselves.
With the betting market becoming increasingly crowded, making sure to prioritise specific sports that we know we have credibility in pays off as many players follow us not only in terms of betting but through the tournaments we are organising, what brand ambassadors we are supporting and what joint events we are conducting.
