Jumbo to Acquire Gatherwell for $9.1 Million

Jumbo Interactive has signed an agreement to acquire UK lottery company Gatherwell for $9.1 million. Jumbo will pay $5.4 million in cash on acquisition for the UK business, with further payments of $3.7 million payable if certain revenue and profit targets are met by Gatherwell.

Gatherwell was founded in Oxford in 2013 as a lottery company to support local causes and schools across the UK. The UK company currently has around 80 local authorities and 1000 schools as customers, spread across around 5000 causes and selling around 130,000 lottery tickets per week.

Jumbo founder and CEO Mike Veverka says the acquisition will accelerate the company’s expansion of its software as a service (SaaS) business in the UK.

“This is an important step in building the SaaS Powered By Jumbo business segment, and in achieving our vision of $1 billion of ticket sales through the Jumbo platform by 2022. The acquisition will have an immediate positive impact on our business through an increase in revenue and profits, as well as placing Jumbo in the best possible position to take advantage of the opportunities in the UK charity lotteries,” Veverka said.

“There is significant growth potential for Gatherwell based on their ‘first-mover’ competitive advantage, the industry growth of approximately 14 per cent, less than 1 per cent by value of the registered charities in the UK operate a lottery, and recent changes to the regulations. Jumbo can benefit by using Gatherwell to licence its Powered By Jumbo software and services to larger lotteries in the UK and possibly adapt the Gatherwell business model in other international markets such as Australia and Canada,” Veverka added.