EveryMatrix Focused on Powering Europe’s Top Brands

Stian Hornsletten, CCO, EveryMatrix.

At the beginning of the new decade, 5 Star sat down with EveryMatrix’s Stian Hornsletten to discuss last year’s major milestones, the company’s recent accomplishments and signings, and to discover what opportunities and challenges will the iGaming technology provider face in the next period.

How do you assess EveryMatrix’s recent business developments and in what direction are you heading next?

The last years were transformational for the company since we’ve had many changes in the product line-up, internal structure and overall strategy. All of these things contributed to the tremendous success of 2019, and I think EveryMatrix is now a well-known software provider within iGaming, and overall, stronger than ever before.

Since we are at the beginning of the 12th year of activity, we’ve seen a lot in this industry, from new technologies being developed, operators entering the space and climbing at the top at a record pace, to major shifts in compliance requirements across many markets. Overall, I think all these changes helped our journey as EveryMatrix is always focused on truly answering the market demand.

EveryMatrix provides platform solutions to several very ambitious operators, and the partnerships we currently have can vouch for the quality of work we do. We are now the provider for some of Europe’s biggest casino brands, market leaders in Germany, where we service Tipico, in Norway with Norsk Tipping, and now in Greece thanks to a recently signed partnership. Moreover, we are now entering Spain and other regulated markets with Flutter’s Paddy Power and Betfair, where we will make available a well-curated library of market-specific content.

Providing platform solutions to these operators, along with data provision and excellent service level, is the recipe we found works best for us. Focusing entirely on B2B provision was a necessary step for us, which we took without hesitation, and so far, it proved to be a great decision since it brought us many valuable partnerships with Europe’s biggest brands.

You’ve recently assumed a new role as the Group’s Chief Commercial Officer and relocated to Malta. How were the past months for you, and what do you plan to achieve in 2020?

Malta is a sunny and lovely place, and I am very excited to be at the heart of the iGaming industry. This new position came organically after a period in which I became more involved in the company’s commercial activity, from my then role as the CEO of the CasinoEngine business unit. Nonetheless, I was connected to everything that was going on, from technical development to operations, sales or marketing.

As a result of our commitment to position the product as the go-to platform for casino operators, we managed to sign and launch in the past years 30 new casino clients, including very big names in the European space. This is a powerful endorsement which says a lot about the quality of our product, and I am more than happy to push into the world such a competitive offering and present it to many more successful operators.

As CCO, I will oversee commercial activity for the other products of the company as well, and I am particularly excited for OddsMatrix, which underwent a huge product revamp in the last year. The front-end interface was re-done entirely to help our sports betting partners deliver a top-notch player experience in their markets. Our platform solutions for both sportsbook and casino operators are very competitive thanks to the ongoing development we do, and we are sure that offering such a comprehensive product will appeal to many more clients.

As part of completing EveryMatrix 2.0 and having all products on a new development stack, my aim commercially is to bring onboard T1 and T2 operators with our turnkey solution. I think we have both a very competitive and scalable platform solution and operational excellence. This combination helps us stand out in the market.

2020 will most definitely be the year of new major signings as we are looking at several regulated markets. I am sure this year will bring valuable clients onboard, new product development and a lot of requests from our existing clients.

EveryMatrix recently entered the game development business with the exciting launch of Spearhead Studios. How do you see this business developing?

Spearhead Studios is the newest addition to our portfolio, the team of 14 experienced staff was hired in Marbella, Spain, in November 2019, and so far, the productivity has been incredible. The focus of the studio is to develop high-quality HTML5 games which fit well with our current and up-and-coming expansion plans into new markets.

The target is to have 20 games live and certified by the end of H1 2020. We have carefully analysed the potential of the business, and we believe we can make this unit profitable by the end of this year. EveryMatrix is a fully open platform, and we don’t favour any vendors including our own. But even if the market is hugely competitive, and Spearhead must compete with all the other vendors we have, we are confident that the team can pull this off.

What can you tell us about the recently launched RGS Matrix?

RGS Matrix was added to the portfolio approximately at the same time with our launch into gaming development and the establishment of Spearhead Studios. The product is targeted in two main directions. First, it answers the needs of gaming studios by enabling them to develop games, but also it provides the necessary means to certify and distribute the content with ease. Second, the RGS Matrix helps operators looking to source exclusive and localised content. The overall goal is to offer better player experiences by having an open and API driven game client, and also provide operators with original and country-specific content so they can boost their performance on local markets.

RGS Matrix offers more than just game development or deployment, and this is shown by the many layers we’ve added. The product is built to service a lot of gaming studios and is not only available for our own clients, but for everyone wishing to level up the way they create games.

Do you see opportunities for EveryMatrix in other countries as they move forward with legislation?

In the last year, we’ve launched into 5 new markets and we plan to launch into 5 new ones this year. Spain was a high priority for us, and that’s why we’ve recently finished the technical assessment in the market, CasinoEngine now being fully compliant with all the standards imposed by the DGOJ. This translates into many more opportunities in the year to come, especially since many operators are looking to expand or enhance their current offering. Flutter will launch with us in Spain very soon, and this is an exceptional compliment. They spent a lot of time assessing potential B2B partners and being their choice for Spanish content marks a new important milestone for us.

Soon-to-be regulated Greek market is where we are keen on entering next. The end of the year saw us signing a new partnership with the biggest operator in the market to power its casino platform and provide content and services. We are very excited about this deal and we will announce it soon.

The original version of this interview has been published by 5 Star Media on January 28, 2020, under the title EVERYMATRIX FOCUSED ON POWERING EUROPE’S TOP BRANDS.