Australia-based Ixup Acquires Datapowa

Australian technology company IXUP has acquired UK data company DataPOWA in a deal which lists the latter at £9.8 million.

The acquisition will allow IXUP to commercialise DataPOWA’s POWA index, as well as product integration and new product development opportunities.

The pair have had a technical collaboration in place in recent months, which has led to the development of the POWA index 2.0, and has recently secured its first commercial customer, North American football confederation Concacaf.

Under IXUP ownership, DataPOWA operations are set to be ‘significantly expanded’, while CEO Michael Flynn and Non-Executive Chairman Ian Penrose will continue in their current DataPOWA roles.

“We are excited to be working with the IXUP team with a focus on the aggressive commercialisation of the POWA index and POWA index 2.0, our joint technology offering, which is already gaining market traction, adoption and interest with key international customers and has created a world first in the sports data sector,” said Michael Flynn, Founder and CEO, DataPOWA.

“Incorporating our POWA index platform with IXUP’s industry leading consumer database encryption technology will enable us to deliver rich insights across datasets not previously capable of being utilised, safely and securely.

“As data becomes increasingly important in the business of sport, rights holders and brands will now be able to track and optimise their sponsorships in a new, relevant, and very effective way.”

 
Marcus Gracey, Managing Director & CEO, IXUP, added: “The DataPOWA acquisition was a logical progression from the recently activated collaboration agreement between IXUP and DataPOWA, particularly as it quickly became clear that together we could create a market leading sports sponsorship valuation platform with deep analytics capabilities that the market would adopt. 

“The acquisition provides IXUP with valuable aligned technology, domain expertise with key personnel, an accelerated pathway to market for IXUP technology and accelerated revenues in the fast-growing global sports data and related digital sports betting markets.”