Rise Project eyes IPO after rebranding as Atemi
Online gaming affiliate Rise Project has rebranded as Atemi and revealed plans to pursue strategic acquisitions, with a view to listing on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the coming months.
Headed up by industry veteran Richard Skelhorn, Atemi this year launched its new sports betting comparison business, which has already grown media spend to more than £50,000 (€55,708/$62,911) a day.
Atemi is investing more funds into the channel to help strengthen its position in the market ahead of the new English Premier League football season, which is due to kick off next month.
Aside from the sports betting vertical, Atemi offers various services across casino and bingo, working with clients such as Bet365, Paddy Power Betfair and William Hill.
“We are taking an important step in the progression of our company, Skelhorn said. “We have held positive talks with a number of UK investment partners who are supportive of our vision to expand our business globally and beyond gaming.
“June was another record month for us and as much as we are really pleased with our continued organic expansion, we believe with the support of the capital markets we can rapidly add scale to the business, in particular further our investment into non-gaming verticals.
Prior to founding Atemi in 2015, Skelhorn ran Mandalay Media Group, which he sold to JPJ Group PLC, formerly Intertain, for £60m in 2014.
Skelhorn did not go into detail as to the types of acquisitions that Atemi will be looking at over the next few months, but reiterated a commitment to working in line with regulations across all markets.
“As regulations become more onerous in every market, operators need to work with affiliate partners they can not only trust but also provide the strongest ROI at scale,” he said.
“In their relationship with Atemi, operators have access to the very highest quality customers at a capped acquisition cost and they remain safe in the knowledge we are fully compliant from a marketing standpoint.”