Dutch digital gaming and adtech company Azerion bags €12.5M additional funding; announces IPO plans

Azerion, a digital gaming and adtech company, based out of Schiphol-Rijk, the Netherlands, recently raised €12.5M additional funding to accelerate the growth of its digital platform with a wider variety of quality games, entertainment, and monetisation features, both organically and through acquisitions. 

Azerion says the acquisitions are initially focused on quality casual games and digital entertainment concepts, as well as digital advertising solutions. 

This funding round brings the company’s total to €72.5M in senior secured bonds raised under its existing €100M bond issue framework, which was set up in March before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2021, the company is planning to step-up the funding strategy and explore a potential IPO to fuel growth, expand its platform. 

Secure ecosystem

Founded in 2014 by two Dutch entrepreneurs – Umut Akpinar and Atilla Aytekin – Azerion claims to have built an ecosystem that combines content, technology, and data for publishers, advertisers, and consumers. 

The Dutch platform develops and operates an online social gaming and entertainment platform for people of all ages. Besides, it also has monetisation features and provides solutions to automate the purchase and sale of digital advertising for media buyers and sellers.

Growth at 125% 

The Dutch startup experienced fast growth since its inception at a CAGR of 125% between 2015 and 2019. The company also witnessed a high growth performance during the first nine months of 2020 with a revenue of €139M. 

Due to lower digital advertising spends, Azerion witnessed a lower overall growth; however, this was more than offset by the surge in gaming during lockdowns. Various factors including in-game purchases, in-game advertising, subscriptions, direct downloads, and partnerships contributed to it, claims the company. 

A prime example of such a partnership is Playtime, a new family-friendly gaming platform joint venture with Talpa: Talpa Gaming, powered by Azerion.

According to the company, its adjusted EBITDA came in at €15.5M (11% margin) for the first nine months of 2020. With the fourth quarter underway, the company expects full-year 2020 group revenue and adjusted EBITDA to reach approximately €215M and €25.5M (12% margin), respectively.

Partnership in 2020

Earlier this month, the company renewed its partnership with White Ops, the global leader in collective protection against sophisticated bot attacks and fraud, for the second time. 

With this partnership, the company aims to increases the protection of its full programmatic inventory from the influence of sophisticated bots and fraud. 

Further, the company partnered with Atari to launch Atari Classic games on Mobile and Web Platforms in HTML5 and Telenor to offer games subscription service. 

Acquisition in 2020

Headquartered in Schiphol-Rijk, the Netherlands, Azerion employs more than 850 employees across 24 offices, including France, which was opened a couple of months back. In 2020, the Dutch company acquired Spil Games’ portals business, and digital ad experts Collective Media Europe.  

“The company will continue to focus on increasing its user base and driving top-line growth with a fast-pace expansion strategy that utilises both organic growth and acquisitions to scale,” the company mentions in its press release.

Azerion claims that it will continue to invest in content, technological innovation, gaming platforms, and new markets in order to provide a safe, reliable user experience for people of all ages.