Nicklas Zajdel joins Sport Buff as partner and investor

Nicklas Zajdel, a highly experienced leader in gaming and online betting, has joined Sport Buff as both partner and investor.

The significant appointment for the gamification and on-screen engagement business follows its successful delivery with global broadcasters at Qatar 2022 and the announcement of $2.5million of seed funding in August 2022.

Zajdel has over 15 years of experience in online betting and gaming, with extensive leadership experience across a wide range of territories including roles as group chief operating officer for Fortuna Entertainment Group, managing director (digital) at Ladbrokes, group omni-channel director for Ladbrokes Coral group and VP business operations at Playtech Turnkey Services.

Zajdel said: “I’m thrilled to join Sport Buff as a partner and an investor. I share their vision of being the global leaders in engagement and activation, for digital broadcast and live streaming – and that belief is backed with my own investment.

“Buff has an innovative product, inspiring founders, a skilled and passionate team and exceptional potential while the benefits to broadcasters, sports and viewers are proven. Their real-time fan engagement experience is genuinely innovative, hugely enhancing engagement and monetisation opportunities for content partners.

“Starting straight away, I look forward to working closely with founders Benn and Jonty, the board of Buff and the whole team, adding my experience from the betting and gaming sector and contributing to product evolution, revenue generation and operational excellence.”

Sport Buff founder and president Jonty Whitehead said: “We’ve known Nick for a number of years and it’s exciting that we’ll now be working with him inside Buff, as a partner in our leadership team and as an investor, helping to drive the next stage of our growth.

“He’s taken a keen, long-term interest in the development of our products, followed our journey and clearly likes what he’s seen. We also love what he can bring to this rapidly growing business.

“Buff’s expertise across broadcast and digital engagement is well-known and Nick will add further to our commercial and operational capabilities through his extensive experience in building partnerships, understanding of data, ability to create valuable transactions and knowledge of fuelling both B2B and B2C relationships.”