Skillz bolsters esports marketing reach with Aarki acquisition

Mobile games development platform Skillz has completed the acquisition of marketing platform Aarki.

Under the remit of the agreement, Skillz will acquire 100% of Aarki for approximately $150m (£105.6m) in a combination of cash and stocks.

The combination will see the creation of an integrated esports advertising platform that will use Aarki’s advanced machine learning algorithms and Skillz datasets.

The Skillz platform allows for game developers to showcase new titles to prospective players, who in turn pay to compete in these titles. Players are guaranteed real-world prizes and the remainder of the entry fees are split between Skillz and the respective game developer.

Aarki currently reaches more than 465 million monthly users as a demand-side platform.

Additionally, 160 Aarki employees will joins Skillz when the acquisition closes, which is expected in Q3 following the customary conditions being met.

LionTree Advisors served as financial adviser and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal adviser to Skillz in the transaction.

Andrew Paradise, Skillz CEO, said: “Aarki’s proven machine learning will pair with Skillz’s robust first-party data to create an unrivalled value proposition for game developers.

“The integrated ecosystem will unlock new points of connectivity between consumers, developers and brands, pairing the right impression with the right user at the right time, all while delivering a superior user experience,” he added.

Levon Budagyan, Aarki CEO, commented: “Joining Skillz will offer tremendous advantages to both the Aarki team and our customer community. Harnessing the combined power of our data science platforms will further increase our industry-leading performance marketing.”