Raketech recruits new COO Karlsten from Catena Media
Oscar Karlsten has left his senior executive role at Catena Media to become the chief operating officer at rival affiliate Raketech.
Karlsten has been charged with overseeing Raketech’s central operations, product development and investments, whilst also focusing on the group’s creative content, SEO and UX.
The online affiliate and content marketing provider said Karlsten was selected due to his experience in the industry, which includes more than 15 years of working in product management, digital marketing, business intelligence, web analytics and technology.
The appointment comes six months after previous COO Oskar Mühlbach was promoted to the role of president and chief executive officer.
Mühlbach said: “Oscar’s extensive experience within the digital marketing industry brings many valuable insights and expertise to Raketech.
“With him onboard, we have now secured the last piece of the management puzzle and I am very much looking forward to seeing him accelerate our transformation from affiliation to the iGaming performance marketing partner.”
Karlsten spent four years at Catena, initially as chief product officer before becoming chief information officer in 2018. He was responsible for the group’s product strategy and roadmap towards scalable growth.
Karlsten also spent four years as CEO of digital agency Avantime Group, and also worked for digital studio Toca Boca and web giant Google.
“I’m incredibly excited to be a part of Raketech,” he commented. “There’s such a positive buzz in the company and after meeting all of the people I can’t wait to add my experience into the mix. With the team and strategy we have in place – I truly believe we will reshape performance marketing as we’ve seen it.”
Earlier this month, Raketech revealed a 25.7% year-on-year decline in EBITDA during the first quarter of 2020.
Total revenue during the three months to 31 March amounted to €6.5m (£5.7m/$7.0m), an increase of 1.4% on the corresponding quarter last year. However reported earnings before interest, tax, deprecation and amortisation declined to €2.6m, as a result of the acquisition of Lead Republic, as well as investments in the organisation and product mix.