Optimove Backs Its Biggest Rival in Gamification CRM Play
Rather than compete with Smartico, Optimove has decided to own it. The deal reshapes the iGaming CRM landscape and signals where the real battleground for player engagement is heading.
- Optimove has signed a deal to acquire gamification-led CRM marketing provider Smartico for an undisclosed sum, combining two of the iGaming sector's most prominent CRM platforms under common ownership
- Smartico will continue to operate as an independent business, with its founders retaining full decision-making authority over strategy, product roadmap and day-to-day operations
- Optimove CEO Pini Yakuel described Smartico as the competitor that stood out, crediting the company with being first to combine gamification and CRM marketing into a compelling product that the iGaming industry adopted
- Smartico CEO Arman Gal framed the deal as providing additional firepower to scale faster and continue innovating in the player engagement space
- Optimove cited projections that the online gambling industry will nearly double in size by 2033, positioning quality CRM infrastructure as integral to capturing that growth
Optimove Just Bought Its Most Dangerous Competitor
In most industries, when a market leader acquires its most innovative rival, the assumption is that the challenger will eventually be absorbed and neutralised. Optimove is framing its acquisition of Smartico rather differently. The message from both companies is that this is a backing, not a buyout, and that the iGaming CRM market is now home to two leading platforms operating under the same ownership but on entirely separate tracks.
The deal, announced on 6 April, brings together two businesses that have been competing directly for the attention of iGaming operators looking to improve player engagement and retention through CRM marketing. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the strategic logic is transparent enough. Smartico built something genuinely original: it was the first company to combine gamification mechanics with CRM marketing in a way that iGaming operators found compelling and commercially valuable. That first-mover advantage in a category that is now considered mainstream makes it a meaningful asset.
Optimove CEO and founder Pini Yakuel acknowledged that directly, describing Smartico as the competitor that stood out and crediting the company with creating a category that the industry subsequently adopted. "The category now has two leading platforms," he said. "We built one and we've backed the other." That framing is deliberate. Optimove is not presenting this as a consolidation move designed to eliminate competition. It is presenting it as a portfolio play, owning the two strongest positions in a market it believes is about to grow substantially.
The independence guarantee extended to Smartico is unusually firm for an acquisition of this kind. Smartico's founders will retain full decision-making authority over strategy, product development and daily operations. Clients have been told to expect no changes as a result of the transaction. Whether that independence is maintained in practice over the long term remains to be seen, but the public commitment to it reflects an understanding that Smartico's value is inseparable from the team and vision that built it.
Smartico CEO Arman Gal described the deal as arriving at an important moment for the iGaming CRM industry, pointing to the additional scale and resources it provides to accelerate growth and deepen innovation in player engagement. The company has built its reputation on a clear product vision and disciplined execution, and Gal's comments suggest the founding team views the Optimove relationship as an enabler rather than a constraint.
The broader market context underpinning the deal is significant. Optimove has pointed to projections suggesting the online gambling industry will nearly double in size by 2033. In a market growing at that rate, the operators best equipped to acquire, engage and retain players will capture a disproportionate share of the value being created. CRM and gamification infrastructure sits at the centre of that capability, and owning the two platforms most associated with it gives Optimove a structural advantage in the conversations that will shape how iGaming operators build their player engagement strategies over the next decade.
This Is a Category Ownership Play, Not a Consolidation Move
The conventional logic of M&A in technology markets is that acquirers buy competitors to eliminate them, absorb their customer base and strengthen their own product with selected features. Optimove appears to be operating from a different playbook entirely. By maintaining Smartico as a fully independent operation with its own roadmap and leadership, Optimove is effectively positioning itself as the owner of the gamification CRM category rather than simply the dominant player within it. That is a more ambitious and more defensible strategic position, but it requires genuine discipline to execute. The temptation to consolidate, reduce duplication and extract cost efficiencies will grow over time, and resisting it while keeping Smartico's product and culture intact will be the real test of whether this deal delivers on its stated rationale.
Gamification Has Moved from Novelty to Necessity
When Smartico first brought gamification mechanics into the CRM marketing space, it was a differentiator. Operators that adopted it early gained a competitive edge in player engagement and retention. The fact that Optimove, the established market leader, has now paid to own the company that pioneered that approach tells you something important about where the industry has landed. Gamification is no longer an optional enhancement to a CRM strategy. It is becoming a baseline expectation, and operators that have not yet integrated it into their player engagement infrastructure are increasingly at a disadvantage. The Optimove and Smartico combination will accelerate that shift by giving both platforms more resources to develop, market and embed gamification-led CRM tools across a wider operator base.
The 2033 Growth Projection Changes the Investment Calculus
Optimove's decision to reference projections of the online gambling market nearly doubling by 2033 in the context of this acquisition is not incidental. It is the investment thesis. In a market growing at that pace, the infrastructure layer, the tools operators use to manage, engage and retain players, becomes increasingly valuable as the pool of players and the volume of interactions expand. Acquiring Smartico now, before that growth fully materialises, means Optimove is buying capacity and market position at a point when both are still being underpriced relative to their future value. If the growth projections prove accurate, this acquisition will look considerably more significant in five years than it does today.
Sources
Why This Matters
iGaming Times analysis: Strategic investments by category-leading software vendors into competitor products usually signal one of two things — consolidation runway, or a pivot to a platform-of-platforms positioning that monetises competing tools rather than displacing them. Either case implies the iGaming CRM/personalisation category has matured past the pure-displacement phase; operators evaluating new vendors should weight integration breadth and partner-network access more heavily relative to feature parity.
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