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Graphyte Acquired by Optimove to Produce Powerful End-to-End Player Engagement Platform
The acquisition will significantly enhance Graphyte’s ability to seamlessly deliver personalized recommendations to players across channels and at scale
Graphyte, the realtime, cloud-based personalization platform built for the betting and iGaming industry, today announced it has been acquired by Optimove, the leading CRM Marketing Platform. The acquisition will cement Graphyte’s leader status in cloud-based personalization in the iGaming market, driving more operators to utilize its capabilities as part of their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Marketing strategies carried out by Optimove’s multichannel CRM marketing hub.
Trusted by some of the world’s largest operators, Graphyte, founded in 2018 and employing 20, is a London-based startup built to fill the gap in the SaaS marketplace for a scalable Personalization Engine to serve the betting and iGaming industry. Operators like Entain, Sisal, 888, and others use Graphyte’s Personalization platform to serve AI-based product recommendations and dynamically personalize their web, native mobile sites, and mobile apps to engage customers in realtime through owned and paid marketing channels. For example, Gala Bingo has driven a 35% turnover uplift using Graphyte’s web personalization models and seen a 300% increase in site visits when providing intelligent recommendations to players through emails, instead of traditional static emails.
Graphyte applies advanced machine learning to betting, gameplay, and browsing activity in realtime to make every interaction with a customer relevant and in the moment. Unlike other personalization engines that require technical skills to deploy model results, the company’s flexible platform empowers marketers with complete control over how recommendations are made when testing and deploying personalized treatments without needing to make any changes to the core CMS.
The company’s robust offering includes:
- Recommend – fully featured realtime, personalized recommendation and rules engine
- Intelligent Layouts – web and app realtime AI-based personalized casino lobbies, homepages, banners, and navigation.
- Engage – realtime triggered messages.
- Momentum – social proof to surface trending and popular content on any channel.
- Retarget – personalized ads served up to end-users as they browse third-party sites.
- Site Search – instant, full-featured search capabilities for every channel and product.
Graphyte’s offering will now integrate with Optimove’s industry leading CRM Marketing capabilities. With a Customer Data Platform (CDP) at its core, Optimove offers marketing teams direct access to their customer data to build, test, orchestrate, and optimize hundreds of personalized CRM campaigns weekly.
Joint customers will benefit from synergies which will see Graphyte’s models enriched with robust data from Optimove’s CDP, while the models’ results will be readily accessible within customer profiles inside Optimove for segmentation, activation, and analysis. Joint customers will be able to reap these benefits and more, soon.
Furthermore, the acquisition will enable operators to provide players with realtime symmetric and personalized journeys. In addition to providing the end-to-end offering to iGaming and Sports Betting operators, Optimove, which has a significant non-gaming client base, will allocate resources to adapt and expand Graphyte’s web and app personalization capabilities to additional verticals.
Operators using the Graphyte and Optimove joint solution will be able to deliver unparalleled holistic player journeys such as:
- Symmetric multichannel journeys: Leveraging Graphyte’s personalized recommendations in outbound campaigns via Optimove’s email and mobile channels and ensuring customers view the same recommendations when clicking through to the brand’s website or mobile app.
- Geolocation-triggered personalized recommendations: Maximizing Graphyte’s bet recommendation relevancy by combining it with Optimove’s geo-fencing technology to trigger personalized messages to customers’ mobile apps. For example, triggering relevant sports betting recommendations when players enter a perimeter near a sport stadium.
- True 1-to-1 personalization: Selecting one of Graphyte’s 20 distinct AI-models to personalize player experiences based on robust segmentation from Optimove’s Customer Data Platform. For example, deploying a different model for high loyalty players and new ones.
“I’m proud to welcome Graphyte to the Optimove family,” said Optimove Founder and CEO Pini Yakuel. “As evident from this acquisition, and of Kumulos earlier this year, we’re very serious about ramping up our never-ending quest to expand marketing teams’ capabilities and effectiveness. Graphyte’s machine learning and personalization capabilities are way ahead of the curve. Combining those with our native customer data platform and multichannel journey orchestration engine will prove extremely valuable for both our client bases and the iGaming industry.”
“We couldn’t be happier to join forces with Optimove as an integral part of their offering,” said Damien Evans, CEO of Graphyte. “Optimove’s CRM Marketing capabilities are second to none, and its dominance in the iGaming market is well-established. If you add to that equation Graphyte’s market-leading machine learning personalization capabilities, the result is a game changing marketing tool which will create unprecedented freedom for brands to realize their CRM Marketing visions. We’re excited to receive this significant vote of confidence from Optimove, the leading CRM Marketing player in the iGaming market.”
The acquisition is part of Optimove’s continuous investment in expanding its CRM marketing capabilities for the iGaming and Sports Betting industry, following its September 2021 $75 million investment led by Summit Partners and the acquisition of personalized mobile marketing solution Kumulos, in March 2022.
BMM
BMM TESTLABS PROMOTES SACHA MCLAUGHLIN TO VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL QUALITY ASSURANCE

BMM Testlabs, the world’s original gaming test lab renowned for exceptional product compliance and certification services, today announced the promotion of Sacha McLaughlin to Vice President of Global Quality Assurance.
BMM’s President of Land-Based Gaming & Inspections, Kirk White, said, “Sacha has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership, operational excellence, and a customer-first attitude. Her experience and passion will be critical as we continue to grow our QA services to meet the always-evolving needs of the global gaming industry.”
With over 18 years of experience in software implementation and seven years in the gaming industry, McLaughlin brings extensive knowledge of both agile and waterfall development methodologies, test planning, project management, and cross-regional team leadership. She is recognized for her ability to build and scale QA organizations that deliver quality, speed, and value to customers.
McLaughlin joined BMM in 2018 and has held roles of increasing responsibility within the Company, most recently serving as Senior Director of Quality Assurance. Throughout her tenure, she has been instrumental in expanding BMM’s QA capabilities and helping customers launch products into the global gaming market more quickly, with a focus on regulatory compliance, functionality, fairness, and security.
The post BMM TESTLABS PROMOTES SACHA MCLAUGHLIN TO VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL QUALITY ASSURANCE appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Eastern Europe
Totogaming Joins Cernica Pantelimon RunFest: Not Just Present, But Fully Participating

“We weren’t just present — we were participants of Runfest. And that’s one of the most important aspects,” said Artak Ashkhatoyan, Deputy CEO of Totogaming.
On July 6, Totogaming joined the Cernica Pantelimon Runfest in Romania, once again emphasizing the importance of promoting amateur sports and a healthy lifestyle.
“Supporting such initiatives is a priority for TotoGaming. First, 50% of the proceeds from RunFest will be donated to the CLOVES Romania Foundation, supporting children affected by CLOVES Syndrome. And second, we’ve always believed in showing our passion for sports through actions, not just words. Have you noticed how we’re constantly rushing through life, yet when we look back, it often feels like we haven’t moved at all? It’s important for us to lead by example and show the importance of participation. This is exactly the message we’re promoting through our team’s active involvement in the marathon. After all, there can never be too much sport in our lives,” said TotoGaming’s Deputy CEO, Artak Ashkhatoyan.
A Simple Concept, a Powerful Impact
The concept of this sports event is straightforward: choose a distance between 1 to 21 kilometers and run. The goal? Make sport an integral part of everyday life. The crowd certainly embraced that, gathering as early as 8:30 a.m. — on a Sunday morning.
Totogaming contributed in two distinct capacities: as an official sponsor and as an active participant. A dedicated team of 13 employees represented the company at the Cernica Pantelimon RunFest, with 7 of them proudly taking part as runners.
More Than Just a Run
It wasn’t an easy challenge — especially because among Totogaming’s runners were people for whom running isn’t a daily habit, or even part of their life at all. Yet they couldn’t miss the opportunity, not least from the perspective of corporate responsibility.
“We just finished the 7.5-kilometer race!” shared Petrut-Adrian Toea from the Totogaming team.
“It was amazing, honestly. Around the 2-kilometer mark, I had this little battle with myself — I told myself I had to finish the race, no matter what. And I did it! I came in around 60th place out of over 100 runners, which for me is a really good result.”
“I see my participation as a small contribution toward promoting a healthy lifestyle. In my close circle, everyone knows I’m not exactly the sporty type. I’m not athletic, and I usually prefer having fun in other ways. But showing up here, early in the morning, in this intense heat, and completing almost 8 kilometers with just one short break — I think it set a good example.”
“I hope seeing someone like me finish this challenge motivates my friends to try something similar for their own health. I believe that’s a meaningful contribution”, – added Petrut-Andrea.
Totogaming also made it possible for every attendee to bring sport into their lives — quite literally. At the Totogaming tent, participants could ride stationary bikes and receive prizes based on the number of points they earned through their efforts.
Whether they were running, cycling, or simply cheering for friends, the goal for everyone was the same: to reach the destination of champions — by bringing sport into everyday life.
The post Totogaming Joins Cernica Pantelimon RunFest: Not Just Present, But Fully Participating appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
AI
Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index Reveals UGC Is a Key Differentiator for Top Apps

Major findings from the newly launched report include playable ads having the potential to deliver impression-to-install rates 16 times that of non-playable formats for emerging gaming apps and a 20% increase in spending on interactive ads year over year.
Liftoff, a leading AI-enabled growth platform for the mobile app economy, has published its seventh annual Mobile Ad Creative Index. The report explores top creative trends that are attracting and scaling in ad spend across consumer apps and games. It also highlights the expanding role of AI in creative production, testing, and optimization.
This year’s Mobile Ad Creative Index specifically analyzes creative concepts that have excelled in scale for Liftoff’s highest-spending advertisers over the past 12 to 48 months. It is based on findings from over 4.7 trillion impressions, 263 billion clicks, and 1.1 billion installs between 1 January 2023 and 31 May 2025.
Highlights from the report include:
Top consumer apps are investing in interactive ads to compete for engagement
In 2024, the share of spend on interactive ads for top apps increased by 20% year over year. The share of spend increased by 2% for spenders outside the top tier. Top-spending apps differentiate their campaigns by adding innovations to evergreen concepts such as social scrollers, carousels, and scratch-offs.
Playable ads deliver returns across ad budgets for mobile game advertisers
In 2024, the share of spend on playable ads for top games averaged 35% higher than other games. Across all ad budgets, however, playable ads delivered higher conversion rates. Impression-to-install rates were 8 times that of non-playable formats for top spenders and 16 times that of non-playable formats for other game advertisers.
Tailoring “metaplay” elements to motivations can improve performance
“Metaplay” elements—gameplay that diverges from an app’s core design to appeal to a broader audience—are widespread, but top games gain an edge by tailoring their metaplay ads to the publisher audience. The report found that aligning “metaplay” creative with publisher audiences resulted in a 93% increase in installs-per-mille.
UGC is becoming a key differentiator in driving scale for consumer apps
The share of spend on user-generated content (UGC) increased 11% for top-spending apps, with social and utility apps seeing the most significant jump of nearly 30% between 2023 and 2024.
Widespread adoption of Gen AI leads to more customized ad experiences
Creative teams increasingly leverage AI to enhance top-performing assets with 3D and motion and to create and test variations. Top advertisers also use AI to recombine their assets in customized ad experiences that break away from standard video to playable formats.
Yann Zeller, Chief of Staff, Creative at Liftoff, said: “Today’s creative landscape is shaped by a single, powerful truth: attention is the commodity, and brands, games, and influencers are all vying for it. Great mobile ad experiences can earn attention by aligning context with behavior. As ad formats become richer and AI expands our ability to personalize and adapt creatives at scale, we’re able to unlock new insights into user behavior and motivation. We see users spend meaningful stretches with the right content, sometimes 60 to 90 seconds when the ad feels personal or prompts meaningful participation. This isn’t just a better way to advertise—it’s a better way to tell stories and the most exciting brief we’ve had in years.”
Soren Steelquist, Director of Creative Production, said: “The proof is in the data—more and more consumer apps are incorporating UGC into every stage of their marketing, and programmatic is no different. UGC works because it’s authentic and relatable, and users are more likely to be influenced by ad when it’s coming from a trustworthy source. To see higher impact from UGC creatives, work with a partner that can match the right creator with your brand and develop winning concepts that resonate with audiences.”
The post Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index Reveals UGC Is a Key Differentiator for Top Apps appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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