“We’re planning to expand into additional games for fans and users of our clients’ platforms”

How would you summarize 2024 for STATSCORE? What was the biggest success?

We defined 2024, even before it began, as the year that would help us effectively achieve our goals in the years to come. We set three milestones for STATSCORE’s development: a new office, rebranding, and intensive recruitment efforts.

All of this was aimed at highlighting our strengths and reinforcing our capabilities to align with our significant ambitions. All three elements were successfully completed. We’ve built a solid foundation to effectively attract new partners to our data and products, including those from top-tier media outlets.

It’s been a few months since the opening of the new office in Katowice. Has it met your expectations in terms of work efficiency and recruitment?

Absolutely. This is one of several offices we’ve had, but it’s by far the best. We’ve never had conditions like these before—and I can say that with confidence as I’ve been with STATSCORE for over 11 years. With nearly 1,200m² of space, brand-new equipment including laptops and ergonomic workstations, as well as relaxation areas, a well-equipped kitchen, and simply plenty of room to work, it’s a truly top-notch environment.

I won’t hide the fact that it’s even better than I imagined, and what pleases me the most is that more and more people are coming to the office regularly—which, frankly, I’m very passionate about. I’m a staunch opponent of full remote work; hybrid is the only way to go!

You previously mentioned developing PointsInPlay and ScoutsFeed. How have these solutions performed this year?

That’s correct. These are two very different products, yet both are highly needed in the market. ScoutsFeed delivers play-by-play data in a clean text format with very low latency. This is exactly what bookmakers—and not only them—require. In Q4 2024, we signed a strategic agreement with one of the biggest companies in the sports media industry, which only highlights the immense potential of this product.

As for PointsInPlay, it will soon be launched with its first implementation at a bookmaker. I won’t reveal much more for now, but this is a product unlike anything currently available in the market. It offers incredible fun and satisfaction through gamification, competition, and engagement—not based on random events but on real enjoyment of and interaction with sports. I think once it’s implemented with the mentioned bookmaker, we’ll have a more detailed discussion about it.

I’ll hold you to that… Trackers have always been one of your flagship products. Have there been any significant changes to them this year?

That’s true; it’s our flagship product, and that hasn’t changed. We’re now on the third version of this product, which is by far the best in terms of technology. In my opinion, there’s no better product on the market. It offers fast loading on user websites, a wide range of configuration options, and, most recently, we integrated our new Tipster product into the trackers. Tipster suggests bets for matches where users might feel less confident, for example, when they’re not familiar with a specific league.

Looking ahead to 2025, we’ll start working on an even newer version of the tracker—initially for just one sport—but it’s shaping up to be very exciting!

You mentioned wanting to be among the top five providers of scouting feeds. Have you taken a step in that direction?

Absolutely. Month by month, we’ve been expanding our low-latency match coverage. We’re attending more sports venues and continuously sourcing television feeds that meet the strict requirements of bookmakers. That said, as I mentioned earlier, we’re not limiting ourselves to operators—we’re heavily focusing on opening up to sports media.

This is where we’ll direct our new solution: a feed with a much higher level of detail. Since the start of the new season, we’ve been covering over 1,000 matches per month across the world’s top leagues (various sports), using not just one scout but two per match. This ensures that our partners have access to far more live data, which they can utilize in their solutions for their customers.

How has the collaboration with LSports progressed in 2024? Have the teams become more synchronized?

Establishing effective collaboration after such acquisitions is incredibly important, but almost always a significant challenge. That’s been the case for us as well. It’s been two years now, and while things are improving month by month, there’s still room for further refinement.

What makes me most pleased, however, is that LSports recognizes us as equal partners. We’re learning certain aspects from them, and they’re learning from us. The exchange of knowledge, information, quality, and experience flows both ways, which is essential.

Earlier, you mentioned that flexibility is one of STATSCORE’s greatest strengths. Was it particularly important this year?

It was crucial this year, last year, and it will be even more so in 2025 and beyond. Flexibility, understood as agility, is one of our core values. I mentioned earlier that we signed an agreement with a major company in the sports media industry. To make that happen, we had to work incredibly hard—adjust our plans, and adapt to the partner’s needs within just two months.

We accomplished everything efficiently and on time, precisely because, even as we grow larger as an organization, we can still execute such pivots effectively. The way our partners value this afterward is indescribable. Every individual involved in this project, who heard the partner’s words of appreciation, felt that they had achieved something truly spectacular.

Do you already have ideas for new products for next year, or will you focus more on developing those already on the market?

Ideas are constantly sprouting in our minds—sometimes even too many! In today’s world, you need to carefully select which ones to pursue to avoid overshooting, wasting resources, or, most importantly, time.

In the first quarter, we’ll focus intensively on our live text commentary product. We’ve received numerous inquiries from clients and potential partners, and we’re finally ready to address this demand. We’re also planning to expand into additional games for fans and users of our clients’ platforms. With our expertise, data, and talented graphic designers, we believe we can introduce more F2P games beyond just PointsInPlay.

New products will definitely emerge, but you’re right that continuous development of existing ones is key. That’s where new features come into play as well.

How was building B2B relationships in 2024? Did you notice any changes in client behavior?

That’s a tricky question, almost as if you anticipated turbulence or issues in these interactions. Quite the opposite. While the first half of the year was relatively calm, the latter part has been very successful for us, and we’re preparing something significant in partnership with a major company for Q1 2025. We have no complaints. Our rebranding in mid-year opened several new doors for us, which only confirms that it was worth the effort!

Your team has always been a key priority for you. How do you evaluate the changes in your team this year? Did the new hires meet your expectations?

Once again, I must answer affirmatively. In less than two years, we’ve grown to 150 people—that’s more than double the size we were before LSports acquired us. What’s more, this growth was carefully planned to address critical gaps in key areas (and judging by the numbers, there were quite a few gaps!). It wasn’t easy, and the HR team, especially, knows all too well the challenges they faced along the way.

Because hiring someone is not the challenge; the real test is finding someone with the right qualifications and, above all, the right personality fit. The strength of STATSCORE lies in its ‘zero-ego’ approach and collaboration based on mutual trust. This is another of our core values, an absolute foundation of our daily operations.

What are your priorities for 2025? Are there specific areas you see requiring more attention?

Over the past two years, we’ve gone through a period of rapid growth and laying stronger foundations. Now it’s time to focus on greater stability—focusing on areas where we want to become even more recognizable in the market. It’s time to reap the benefits of the investments made, especially in 2024.

We’re definitely aiming for more partnerships with sports media companies and television networks, as we now have so much to offer in this area.

2025 will also bring intensive preparations for the Winter Olympics. For years, we’ve been unable to provide data for all sports disciplines at the Games, but this will change.

We’ll also put a lot of effort into creating even more engaging forms of sports data visualization. Whether through our trackers (as I mentioned, we’re taking a completely new approach to trackers) or hundreds of smaller widgets, we aim to excel in this space. Be it raw data or fully visualized formats, this is where we shine, and we’re ready to help anyone turn their business ideas into reality!

Interview by Bartosz Burzyński