Data firm Genius Sports has reached an agreement to purchase FanHub Media Holdings, a tech company that focuses on free-to-play gaming products.
It’s the first acquisition made by Genius Sports since it formally began trading on the New York Stock Exchange two weeks ago. The firm went public following a $1.5 billion SPAC deal with dMY Technology Acquisition II.
FanHub, which was founded in 2012, specializes in free gamification of all sorts—the types of products that U.S. leagues, teams and media companies are increasingly embracing as a way of driving fan engagement. FanHub partners include the NFL and MLB—Genius Sports data partners themselves—and gambling operators like Betway, Bet365 and PointsBet. Its operations span Australia, the U.K., U.S. and Ukraine.
As part of the transaction, Genius will acquire all of FanHub’s free-to-play games, a list that includes fantasy sports, trivia contests, bracket challenges and pick’em pools. Terms of the acquisition, expected to close in the next few months, weren’t released.
Genius hopes to use the acquisition to build deeper relationships with its partners. The data firm can now offer those games to leagues, media companies and sports betting operators looking for personalized products that might help with customer retention and engagement.
It also believes that the data feeds from its core business—including official feeds from MLB, NFL and English Premier League—will help FanHub grow and improve its business.
Genius Sports stock is up 17% since it began trading under the GENI ticker last month. The company’s revenue jumped 30.6% to $149.7 million in 2020, according to recent financial disclosures.
