The Pitch @ Sports Betting USA Digital run-down continues, with Inside the Pocket, a white label sports games aggregator, with founder Hussain Naqi explaining why he feels it could be the next big thing.
What do you think? Remember to vote for Inside the Pocket if you like what you see!
What does Inside the Pocket do?
Inside the Pocket is a first-of-its kind white label sports games aggregator exclusively focused on the free-to-play market allowing (i) operators; (ii) sportsbooks; (iii) team/leagues; and (iv) media companies to acquire (and convert) customers and generate individual, game, and network data all from a central platform hub. With our free-to-play focus, we eliminate for many of our customers the stigma and danger associated with sports gambling.
Because we are an aggregator focused on the F2P market, we offer all of our customers the truly unique ability to free themselves from having to choose among the “latest and greatest” acquisition content – all of that content can be put on this platform (we offer three native games on the platform with more to come).
Our customers can choose any of the native games or any of the 16 games from Incentive Games with whom we have a content deal. We also serve as a broadcast platform for developers to efficiently get their products in front of a broad variety of perspective users of their games.
We offer our sports clients the ability to offer sponsors, ticket holders, game attendees, subscribers, etc. the chance to play fun, engaging games/quizzes/polls, etc. so our clients can grow their potential customer prospect funnel and bonus/reward/upsell existing customers, and we offer our operator clients the ability to convert, bonus, and market to current and prospective customers with our turnkey data and marketing solution.
We further offer significant value because we can roll out to any jurisdiction globally. We are a built in border strategy and acquisition tool in those jurisdictions where sports betting is regulated or about to be.
Our platform can easily integrate directly into any third party platform via SDK or API (we have our own SDK should you prefer that be the preference).
Just as operators purchase igaming products, they can now purchase mobile sports content with the added benefits of (i) data/marketing provision; (ii) constantly evolving content offers; (iii) a robust platform; and (iv) an aggregation layer.
How did you come up with the idea?
I was looking to solve a recurring problem that faces virtually every team, league, casino/sportsbook, and media company – how do you choose among all of the competing free-to-play sports gaming products in the marketplace. How do you mitigate risk of choosing a single product approach? How do you know what will work with different demographics? ITP takes the aggregation model that is seen in igaming and is applying it to mobile sports games. We solve the data, regulation, and aggregation problem facing this space. We re completely focusing on democratising it.
Who is your target customer?
We are a white label aggregation platform for free-to-play mobile sports games serving teams, leagues, media companies, operators, sportsbooks, and CPG companies.
How do you see the business [or product] developing going forward?
Our games studio will continue to iterate and develop new games informed by the data we are gleaning from the network and individual data on our platform. That will become an increasing larger portion of the business. We will also continue to update and develop our platform and data provision features, which will allow us to provider sharper and deeper customer insights around retention and acquisition.
What sort of challenges does Inside the Pocket face?
The tendency in this space is to think of sports gaming from a product perspective – what games are you putting out to differentiate yourself? That is not the focus of Inside the Pocket.
We are a platform, not a games developer. We need to educate the market on this approach in the sports gaming space. This is well-worn concept in the igaming space, but not as common in sports. We are democratising the space, which drives huge value. We have an education task ahead of us.
What sort of funding have you raised?
I have self-funded the business in the amount of £275K. I have raised £150K from an outside investor.
How did you find the fundraising process? Do you feel investor appetite for gambling products and solutions has evolved in recent years?
There is a clearly an appetite for investment in good products. I have found that the key is an appropriate valuation.
Inside the Pocket at a glance:
Product: Inside the Pocket is a first-of-its kind white label sports games aggregator exclusively focused on the free-to-play market allowing (i) operators; (ii) sportsbooks; (iii) team/leagues; and (iv) media companies to acquire (and convert) customers and generate individual, game, and network data all from a central platform hub.
Inside the Pocket at a glance:
Founded: 2019
Founder: Hussain Naqi
Launch date: November 1, 2020
Markets: North America, Asia, Latin America, CIS
Website: insidethepocket.biz (under development)
Location: US and UK
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