Esports Betting Company Rivalry Makes Stock Market Debut: What The TSX Exchange IPO Means For The Brand
It was a big day for Rivalry, the Toronto-based esports betting operator, as the group made their debut on the TSX Venture Exchange, joining the growing list of sports betting stock offerings. A successful round of funding saw the group secure more than $22 million from investors across the globe, led by Canada’s Eight Capital and Cormark Securities Inc. Further funding came from Canaccord Genuity Corp and M Partners Inc.
Rivalry will trade under the symbol ‘RVLY’ on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Rivalry Sports co-founder and CEO Steven Salz sits down with The Dales Report to discuss the brand’s IPO and what it means for the future of the brand.
“Sports betting businesses go public earlier in their lifecycle that typical tech company,” states Salz, “so we started this thing like five years ago, the sports app launched about three and a half years ago because of regulatory stuff, which is early. A tech company can go public like eight years after launch.”
“So it is early, but there’s so much operational speed gain we get for being public where being a private regulated sportsbook there’s constraints on raising capital, there’s there’s all these due diligence constraints on getting your pain provider set up, new licenses. So a lot of that is like unlocked being public so there’s like a speed unlock that happened today.”
Throughout the conversation, Salz makes it evident that Rivalry’s financial market entrance is intended to further the brand’s proprietary technology to make it a clear leader in the esports wagering space.
While Rivalry has cut it’s teeth in the esports arena, the brand does plan to put an increased emphasis on conventional sports betting markets, as well as develop products that cater to the traditional online casino audiences. Given the stable technology housed under the hood, Rivalry is exploring multiplayer casino games, and the team feels that they can win over marketshare if given the ability to generate and create unique gaming experiences.
The most obvious area of focus will be expansion into a greater number of regulated markets, with the group already eying an Australia launch later this year. With Canada having recently approved single event sports wagering, Rivalry has begun to file the necessary paperwork for liscensing in their home country.
