esports
Denmark – Better Collective expands esports portfolio via Futbin acquisition
By William - 19 April 2022
Better Collective is continuing to expand within esports after acquiring Futbin and related domains for a total price of up to €105m.
With 50 million monthly visits on its website and three million daily active users on its proprietary app, Futbin is the world’s leading esports brand related to the FIFA esoccer game.
Together with its associated domains, the platforms provide a major player base with important insights into the game of FIFA. The main business model of the platforms is ad sales and, more recently, the launch of the Futbin app has driven significant revenue growth with subscription services, which is still in an early stage but with a very promising outlook.
The asset acquisition entails a significant revenue diversification for the sports betting media group as current revenue is not derived from activities related to sports betting, but through ads sales to retail and consumer brands as well as subscription.
Jesper Søgaard, CEO and co-founder of Better Collective, commented: “Esports is maturing and attracting more and more people globally – also professional athletes. Acquiring Futbin and related assets is a clear testament to Better Collective’s ambition of creating a platform that reaches esports audiences across the world.
“And even though more than 100 million people visit our esports platforms every month, we will continue to look for additional growth. We are very impressed with the high growth profile and the technology behind Futbin and the other assets in the portfolio. We expect to see significant positive synergistic effects with Better Collective’s business going forward.”
During the last 12 months, the platforms generated €13m in revenues growing with a CAGR of 55 per cent from 2019 to 2021. The team behind Futbin will continue to provide assistance to the business to ensure continued strong development of the platform, which will also be subject to investments going forward.
Better Collective expects to create significant synergies across the esports portfolio by developing products and services from a joint infrastructure, making it possible to effectively scale the esports brands to reach a larger audience.
Reaching a combined 100 million monthly visits from Futbin, HLTV and other esports assets, Better Collective now holds a leading position in the esports market.
Granting a unique access to the esports audience, this is a key segment for retail and consumer brands in their global positioning allowing for optimised revenue streams through improved partnerships.
Out of the total purchase price, €70m will be paid upfront in cash and shares of Better Collective will be paid at a market value of €5m. The shares are expected to be transferred from Better Collective’s holding of its own shares.
The remaining amount is structured as a number of separate earn out payments to be paid over the coming two years subject to certain financial performance criteria.
