Gaming Innovation Group Inc. (GIG), has through its subsidiary GIG Media (formerly Innovation Labs), agreed to acquire the technology driven Danish performance marketing company Rebel Penguin for a total consideration of EUR 13 million. With the highly competitive and proprietary technology of Rebel Penguins GIG Media enters the paid media space, reaching distribution channels such as Facebook and Google. The acquisition positions GIG Media as a 360 degree digital marketing company, present in all major channels.

Important step enhancing GIG sportsbetting capabilities ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

Since the foundation in 2007, Rebel Penguin (RP) has generated more than 155,000 paying customers to sports betting clients in UK & the Nordics. As such, the acquisition is an important initiative in GIG’s strategy of enhancing its sportsbetting capabilities ahead of the 2018 World Cup. RP has so far not approached the casino market where GIG has a leading and rapidly growing presence. Thus, the casino segment represents an attractive and untapped potential.

RP will provide an increased volume of new players into GIG’s eco-system and benefit all of GIG’s business areas. RP’s in-house affiliate agency will add valuable technological and strategical knowledge to GIG’s B2C and B2B gaming operators. Cost synergies are estimated to be at least EUR 1 million per year. In addition, Rebel Penguin will add significantly to GIGs revenues.

Rebel Penguins annual revenue run-rate is approximately EUR 6.8 million, with a corresponding EBITDA of approximately 2.3 million. Rebel Penguin is based in Copenhagen with more than 30 employees. All staff will be retained.

GIG CEO Robin Reed: This milestone strengthens our position across three main areas.

CEO of GIG, Robin Reed comments: “This is another milestone for GIG Media. Through this acquisition, we will reach millions of monthly ad placements throughout major distribution channels such as Facebook and Google. We strengthen our position in three main areas: paid media, regulated markets, and sportsbetting. For sportsbetting operators we increase traffic driving capability significantly. Finally, we bolt on Rebel Penguins proprietary technology to our platform and add 30 highly competent marketers.”

The acquisition will be settled with EUR 9.1 million in cash and the balance in 7,165,000 GIG shares. The shares will have 12 months lock-up. GIG will use its treasury shares, and the outstanding number of shares in GIG, 896,656,266, will not be changed following the transaction. GIG will decrease its holding of treasury shares from 7,165,000 to zero, or from 0.80 % to 0 % of the outstanding shares. Closing is expected in September 2017.

GIG’s subsidiary GIG Media is a fast-growing online marketing company for iGaming. It refers paying users to B2B clients primarily on perpetual revenue share agreements. It sources these paying users by obtaining competitive rankings for high-value keywords in search engines through SEO (search engine optimization), generating traffic to owned websites. These websites have guides and quality content for the gaming industry and serves as paths to operators. GIG Media also refer paying users through data driven media buying techniques.