SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Geolocation and compliance developer GeoComply has secured Blackstone Growth and Atairos as its first minority institutional investments to support its continued expansion.
The new partnerships will focus on accumulating institutional capital into GeoComply, to support the company in maintaining growth in its core markets as well as develop its expansion in new verticals and sectors.
Although the terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, it has been confirmed that Blackstone led the investment, and the agreement is still subject to regulatory approval.
“Our mission at GeoComply is to empower the future of Digital Trust, and with Blackstone and Atairos as investors, we are taking a material leap forward to make it a reality,” said Anna Sainsbury, Founder and Chairman of GeoComply.
“GeoComply has received countless investment enquiries over the past few years but was in the fortunate position to wait until the right opportunity came along. In Blackstone and Atairos, we found the investors we were looking for, not only with deep insight into Software and Gaming, but also the Financial Services & Broadcasting verticals.”
GeoComply operates as a ‘critical piece of the infrastructure’ for a range of major tech companies, and has become a key player in the international compliance-grade geolocation data market, supporting the decision-making capabilities of firms in the risk industry.
Operating ‘at the centre of a new generation of cybersecurity operators’ and utilising geolocation data to assist with risk-based decisions, GeoComply includes a number of international betting companies in its extensive client portfolio, including Scientific Games and DraftKings.
Sainsbury continued: “We valued their ability to trust and empower founders like David and me to maintain our company values as we execute to our fullest potential. Their integrity and professionalism throughout the process was exceptional and we welcome their expertise and guidance as we grow our business and move into new markets.”
Leading the investment, Blackstone Growth maintains over $619 million in assets, and focuses on contributing venture capital into private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds on an international basis.
Vishal Amin, a Managing Director at Blackstone Growth, added: “We are deeply proud to have been selected as GeoComply’s first institutional backers and invest in a clear market leader.
“We believe the company is poised for significant further expansion in the years ahead – particularly given their mission-critical role in delivering compliance software solutions to the fast-growing, global online gaming and sports betting industry.
“Anna and David have built an incredible business, and we are excited to work closely with them as they look to further increase the company’s already strong leadership position into new markets and opportunities.”
Junior investor Atarios is an independent company which specialises in supporting growth-oriented businesses’ across a range of international sectors, having accumulated over $5 billion of equity capital since its launch in 2016.
“GeoComply continues to innovate and provide its clients with a first-class, mission critical service,” remarked Alex Evans, Partner at Atairos. “We are excited to partner with Anna, David and the entire GeoComply management team, and we look forward to leveraging our experience to help the company continue to scale and expand into new verticals.”
