Catena Media


Catena Media is a lead generation company based in Ta’ Xbiex, Malta. The company was founded in 2012 and employs 390 people in Malta, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Italy, Sweden, the US, Australia and Japan.

History

In 2008, childhood friends Erik Bergman and Emil Thidell started a web consultancy agency. For the first two years, the business operated from Thidell's parents’ basement, but in October 2010, the pair decided to move to Malta. In 2012, they established Catena Media, with a focus on lead generation for online gambling operators.
In 2013, Catena Media began rapidly expanding, entering the Norwegian and Finnish markets in addition to Sweden where its sole focus had lain. In October 2014, the company completed its first acquisition, with the company Finix Invest, and in 2015 acquired eight more companies in the UK, Netherlands and Belgium. The number of company employees reached 50 by the end of 2015.
The company was publicly listed on Nasdaq Stockholm First North Premier in February 2016 with the ticker symbol CTM.
In April 2016 Catena acquired the website AskGamblers.com for €15 million.
In late 2016 the company acquired two British websites - SBAT.com, a sports statistics and betting tips website, for €13 million and CasinoUK.com, for US$13.38 million.
First quarter of 2017 revenues totaled EUR 15.23 million, an increase of 104 percent compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
In April 2017, Catena Media relaunched casino comparison site JohnSlots.com.
On December 21, 2017, it was announced that Catena Media has purchased Squawka, the global football news website for $1.3 million, which had been going through some financial difficulties.
In March 2018, Catena Media appointed Nigel Frith to expand its services to financial sectors.
In August 2018, Catena Media closed a sponsorship deal with the German unbeaten female boxing world champion Christina Hammer to promote their German site casinobonus360.de.
In August 2018, Catena Media closed exclusive affiliate partnership deal with German online casino ladyhammercasino.com to be the only affiliate partner of a brand new online casino brand.
In March 2020, Catena Media appointed Peter Messner as its new group Chief Financial Officer, replacing Erik Edeen, who had been serving as interim group CFO since succeeding Pia-Lena Olofsson in January 2019.

AskGamblers.com

AskGamblers is one of Catena's largest websites, which features a player complaints resolution service. Players lodge disputes with the website, which then gives the relevant operator an opportunity to respond. Through the AskGamblers Casino Complaint Service $26 million of delayed, unfairly confiscated and otherwise unpaid money has been returned to over 9,873 players in total so far.

BonusSeeker.com

In March 2018, Catena Media has added another site to its growing affiliate portfolio by buying US based BonusSeeker.com. BonusSeeker provides casino player and sports bettors with unbiased reviews of online regulated gambling sites since 2016 across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and recently gone live Indiana.
”Through the acquisition of these assets we confirm our position as the number one player in igaming lead generation in the US" said Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Acting CEO of Catena Media.
This site, besides reviews, also publishes information regarding the regulatory landscape of online gambling in the US. BonusSeeker.com is registered and complies with laws set by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control board.