The Betting Startups Podcast
Meet the people building the most promising startups competing for a piece of the multi-billion dollar real-money gaming industry. Presented by Optimove.
Episodes
Ep. 168 features Davis Catlin from Discerning Capital, which invests at the intersection of betting, sports, media, and technology. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale.
Hear him discuss:
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Why starting Discerning Capital gave him new empathy for founders
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Building a deal-by-deal investor network in a regulated industry
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The playbook behind their first investment in Australia...
Ep. 167 features Gino Donati from BetOPENLY, a peer-to-peer betting exchange eliminating the traditional sportsbook model by letting users bet directly against each other at true odds. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale.
Hear him discuss:
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Growing up in a sports-betting Italian family and booking bets in high school
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How running numbers for syndicates gave him a window into...
Ep. 166 features Steve “Dakota” Happas and Sahil Patel from FantasySpin, a real-money DFS platform reinventing the fantasy experience through a gamified, slot-style draft mechanic. This episode was recorded on-site at SBC Summit North America 2025 in Fort Lauderdale. Hear them discuss:
- How a friendly fantasy football bet led to the founding of BettorFantasy
- Steve’s journey from online poker and dating platforms to fantasy spo...
Recorded live at SBC Summit Americas 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this episode recaps the excitement of the First Pitch competition.
In this episode, you'll hear from all five startup finalists just hours before they took the stage, and at the end of the episode, we bring back the winner for a celebratory chat fresh off their victory.
The five startups that competed for a prize package valued at over $100,000 were:
Ep. 164 features Alexander Monahan from OddsJam, a data-driven sports betting platform acquired by Gambling.com Group in a deal worth up to $160 million. Alex returns to the podcast after first joining in early 2023 to share what has changed and what has stayed the same since the nine-figure exit.
Hear them discuss:
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What life looks like after a $160M acquisition
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Why he is still focused on helping bettors win with data
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H...
Ep. 163 features Mark Antal from Staked AI, which is crafting an Amazon Alexa-like AI for sports to deliver personalized, real-time audio content. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025 with guest host, Thomas Coiner.
Hear them discuss:
- How his background in AI and machine learning at Vault AI led to building Staked AI
- Why audio is a breakthrough for sports engagement
- The importance of ti...
Ep. 162 features Owen Monagan and Oisin Tiernan from Layup, which is a FinTech company providing a gamified savings product that turns interest into free sports picks. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025.
Hear them discuss:
- Their journey from building a Fantasy Premier League app together to launching Layup
- How growing up with “prize bonds” in Ireland inspired Layup’s concept
- Why their...
Ep. 161 features Aishik Lala from Rotobot AI, an AI-driven platform tackling fantasy football’s information overload with personalized insights. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025.
Hear him discuss:
- How ChatGPT’s rise inspired a chatbot to answer fantasy football questions
- The launch of a simple web app in 2...
Ep. 160 features Sebastian from Plucky, which is pioneering "gambling as a service," enabling brands with an audience to offer real money gaming without getting involved in regulation. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025.
Hear him discuss:
- Winning the Starties award for Best Collaboration after partnering with Genius Sports to monetize free-to-play games
- The deal with The Sun, monetiz...
Ep. 159 features Aman Agarwal and Jatin Narang from Toast, building live multiplayer skill games with built-in player liquidity for real money iGaming. This episode was recorded at the World Trade Center during the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025.
Hear them discuss:
- Toast’s origins: uniting Aman’s gambling roots and Jatin’s free-to-play expertise
Ep. 158 features Shivam Shorewala from Rimble, a next-generation esports odds and analytics platform powering player props and beyond. This episode was recorded in person at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2025.
Hear him discuss:
- How his early days at SimpleBet sparked the idea for Esports micro markets
- Why messy esports data forced a pivot to pr...
Ep. 157 features Will Martin from LiveDuel, a decentralized blockchain-based betting exchange aiming to simplify sports betting with crypto innovations. This episode was recorded on-site at the NEXT Summit New York in March 2024.
Hear him discuss:
- How a $300 TikTok filter campaign for the 2022 World Cup won Marketing Genius at The Starties
- The orig...
Ep. 156 features KB from Pick The Odds, which is a cutting-edge sports betting data platform providing real-time odds, arbitrage opportunities, and historical betting insights.
Hear him discuss:
- How his background in eSports data and machine learning led to launching Pick The Odds
- The conversation at an Eagles game that sparked the idea for his platform
- How Pick The Odds collects and updates lines from over 100 sportsbooks i...
Ep. 155 features Co-Founders Ty D'Amore and Justin Järvinen from Bankroll U, which is a platform designed to educate bettors while providing a gamified environment that mimics real-money betting. Hear them discuss:
- How a barrage of sportsbook ads sparked the idea for BankrollU
- Why simulated betting is the best way to learn without going broke
- The unique progression system that lets users prove they can win before earning real...
Ep. 154 features Travis Geiger, who joins Jesse in this special episode that zooms in on the upcoming Starties awards show on March 12. Hear them discuss:
- Their reflections on the crazy journey in the last 30 days since The Starties were announced
- A look into the 250+ nominations that were submitted for the 9 award categories
- The creation of the Starties Academy, and the inspiration behind creating a voting committee to ensu...
Ep. 153 features Tyler Amirault and James White from HotTakes, which is the ultimate free-to-play sports betting simulator.
Hear them discuss:
- How their time at Western University led to HotTakes, starting as a passion project before becoming a full-time venture
- The idea behind HotTakes—letting sports fans try betting for free, win real cash prizes, and learn without risk
- Their business model, which monetizes user attention ...
Ep. 152 features Tiffany Santisteban Lagos from EmpowerYourPlay, which transforms gaming rewards by integrating micro-giving to charities of players’ choice. Hear her discuss:
- EmpowerYourPlay winning the recent Pitch ICE competition, and the benefits that has brought
- How EmpowerYourPlay is using charitable giving as a new player retention mechanism for operators
- The insights she got from speaking to over 10,000 players before...
Ep. 151 features Simon Gerszberg from ShotQuality, a sports data extraction company using CV, AI and data science to optimize pricing for Sports-books and syndicates.
Hear him discuss:
- How a chance college roommate pairing sparked the beginning for ShotQuality
- The strategy shift that saw them move away from selling analytics to colleges - despite having 25 Division 1 teams as clients
- How their first sportsbook deal came from...
Ep. 150 features Pierre Lindh from NEXT.io, the world’s iGaming community.
Hear him discuss:
- The life and legacy of Nico Jansen
- His retrospective on the ICE conference's debut in Barcelona
- Why he feels like NEXT is only now hitting its stride after 12 years of perseverance
- The risky shift in strategy that NEXT made last year, and how that's paid off since
- The challenges of building a premium content business with a subscript...
Ep. 149 features Michael Testa from Wunderfan, with guest host Thomas Coiner. Wunderfan redefines sports loyalty by rewarding fan engagement through an innovative "It Pays to be a Fan" model.
Hear them discuss:
- Wunderfan’s unique slogan "It pays to be a fan", and how that applies to fan loyalty
- Michael's entrepreneurial journey in customer loyalty and in a startup acquisition
- How Michael's co-founders, Blake Patterson and Ge...
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