Optimove, the Tel Aviv-based player engagement platform behind the Positionless Marketing framework, has signed an agreement to acquire Smartico, a bootstrapped iGaming CRM company that pioneered gamification-led marketing. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, with financial terms undisclosed.
Key Takeaways:
Optimove signed deal to acquire Smartico, its 4th acquisition since 2018; terms undisclosed Global online gambling market hit $95.3B in 2024, projected at $185.17B by 2033 Optimove has raised $95M total across two rounds; Smartico remained fully bootstrapped Bootstrapped Rivals Merge as iGaming CRM Market MaturesThe deal, announced April 6, brings together what Optimove describes as the two leading CRM marketing platforms in iGaming. The companies will continue to operate independently, and Smartico’s leadership will maintain full decision-making authority over their company’s direction and day-to-day operations.
Optimove was founded in 2009 under the name of Mobius Solutions by Pini Yakuel and Shachar Cohen, who met as students at Tel Aviv University, where Yakuel earned an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management.
The pair initially ran a consultancy helping companies build customer analytics models before launching the Optimove software platform in 2012. The company bootstrapped for its first five years before raising $20 million from Israel Growth Partners in 2016 at a $100 million valuation. A $75 million growth equity round led by Summit Partners followed in 2021.
Optimove says it has been profitable since inception. Now, it employs more than 550 people across offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and London. In the iGaming space, Optimove’s platform provides AI-powered player segmentation, multichannel campaign orchestration, and predictive modeling through its OptiGenie AI toolkit and Opti-X personalization engine.
Smartico was founded in 2019 in Bulgaria by co-founders: Arman Gal, Sergey Kobitskiy, Anton Antropov, and Yuval Mechoullam. The founders brought prior experience from established iGaming technology companies including Playtech and 888.
Their core insight was that CRM and gamification, which operators had traditionally treated as separate functions, could be unified into a single platform. Smartico’s product suite now includes CRM automation, gamification tools such as missions, levels, badges, and tournaments, free-to-play mini-games, a bonus engine, customizable jackpots, and AI-powered predictive modeling for player lifetime value.
This acquisition arrives during a period of sustained growth in the global online gambling market, with the sector valued at $95.3 billion in 2024 and projected to nearly double to $185.17 billion by 2033. Both companies argue that the launch of new regulated jurisdictions and the increasing complexity of compliance requirements are driving growing demand for advanced CRM and player engagement tools.
Yakuel said Smartico stood out among competitors by being the first to combine gamification and CRM marketing into a product category that iGaming operators widely adopted, adding that the category now has two leading platforms, one directly built by Optimove and one backed by it.
Despite the shared ownership, both companies plan to continue developing competing products, framing the internal competition as an intentional strategy to produce better outcomes for iGaming operators. Gal said retaining Smartico’s independence was especially meaningful to his team, adding that the partnership provides additional resources to scale faster and continue innovating in the player engagement space.
The Smartico acquisition is Optimove’s fourth such deal, having previously bought the DynamicMail business from PowerInbox in 2018, data integration company Axonite in 2020, and no-code gamification platform Adact last March.
