Welcome to the Kambi Founders’ Story, an interactive journey through
the key events which led to Kambi becoming the global sports betting
industry’s number one B2B partner. The story is recounted by many of
those who played an important role in Kambi’s success, not least co-founders Kristian Nylén
and Anders Ström.
UNIVERSITY
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The Kambi story is unique in the world of
sports betting...
With a shared interest in sports,
statistics and
betting, a bond between Kristian and Anders
quickly developed and was the basis for a larger
friendship group that would also comprise a
number of future Kambi colleagues, including
Jonas Jansson, Johan Munthe and Tony Johansson.
1990s
There were several of us who
studied in the
same university class. We were all really
interested in mathematics and statistics, while
I also had an interest in computer programming.
We became a group of friends that eventually
worked at Unibet and then Kambi.
ANDERS STRÖMKambi Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
COMPETITIVE CHARACTERS
Although good friends, Kristian and
Anders were
very competitive, both keen to outwit each other
on the poker table or when playing board games.
1990s
I recall Anders and I got into a fiery argument over a game of Risk, so we were definitely
comptetitive characters – and still are.
KRISTIAN NYLÉNKambi Co-Founder and CEO
START OF SOMETHING SPECIAL
These sports-loving university mates were blissfully unaware that this
friendship was
just the start of something special and that, over the next three decades, they would go
on to change the face of the sports betting industry.
When I think back to our
time at university, I never once imagined we’d be in the position we are in today.
With the arrival of the
internet, I dropped out of
university to start my first
company. I haven’t looked
back since.
ANDERS STRÖMKambi Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
1990s
We all moved into very different areas
after university. Anders went into sports
betting and I moved to Stockholm to work
in the finance industry. I don’t think any
of us thought we would end up working
together again.
KRISTIAN NYLÉNKambi Co-Founder and CEO
1990s
UNIBET IS BORN
After selling his tipping business, Anders used the proceeds, as well as all he’d
learned, to start up a new sports betting venture. Sportsbook operator Unibet was
launched in 1997, at the height of the dot-com boom, from Anders’ modest office in
Earl’s Court, London.
1997
Anders was influenced by
Swedish businessman Jan
Stenbeck who was famous for
challenging the status quo.
JONAS JANSSONFormer Kambi Chief Operating Officer
ANDERS GETS THE
BAND BACK TOGETHER
2000s
Starting with Johan, Anders was able to one by
one persuade his old university friends to move
to London after Unibet had gone digital and help
it become one of Europe’s largest operators.
When I started Unibet I had
those guys in mind because I
knew they were smart when
it came to mathematics and
statistics and all of us were
interested in sports. So I
called them one by one and
invited them to London to
work in online gambling.
ANDERS STRÖMKambi Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
2000s
A MARKET RIPE FOR DISRUPTION
At this point, the global sports betting
industry was still in its infancy. Pricing and
trading was completely manual, live betting
was yet to get going, and mobile betting
was a distant dream.
Listen to Kristian Nylén discuss joining Unibet.
Live betting barely existed when I started at Unibet and pre-match accounted for about 90% of
turnover at the time, but everyone could see this was where things were going.
ERIK LÖGDBERGManaging Director, Kambi Sportsbook
2000s
KAMBI ON THE HORIZON
After starting his sports betting career trading
golf and soccer, Kristian rose through the Unibet
ranks to lead the entire sportsbook operation.
The online sports betting and gaming
market, however, was quickly beginning to
change and in the latter half of the decade
talks of launching a B2B sportsbook
operation were already underway.
2000s
Oddsmaking was a lot more manual in
the early years. It’s almost unrecognisable
today, particularly with the growth of
in-play requiring sophisticated algorithms
and models.
Running a pre-match sportsbook
in the early 2000s didn’t cost very
much. In-play and regulation was
the start of everything as they
were driving costs but at that time
we didn’t know the solution was to
create Kambi.
JONAS JANSSONFormer Kambi Chief Operating Officer
2000s
TAKING INSPIRATION FROM CASINO
These emerging trends were putting enourmous pressure on sportsbooks
which were requiring ever greater tech resources to succeed. In their roles at Unibet,
Kristian and Anders began to question why sports betting had yet to adopt the successful B2B
model seen in the casino vertical.
Kristian and I always talked about future
development and we looked at what NetEnt
had done for slots and casino products, and
we discussed whether there was a case for
this in sports betting.
ANDERS STRÖMKambi Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
2000s
At Unibet, we had limited resources which
was difficult in the landscape of regulation,
live betting and tough competition. So, we
started thinking about whether there was
a better model to provide sports betting.
KRISTIAN NYLÉNKambi Co-Founder and CEO
2000s
2000s
MOMENTUM BUILDS
It was against this increasingly challenging backdrop
that confidence in the merits of a high-quality and
scalable B2B sportsbook began to grow, and that
Unibet should spin off its sportsbook to become
a supplier to the industry and reinvest customer
fees to develop the product into a market leader.
A NEW BUSINESS PROPOSAL
In the autumn of 2009, the Unibet sportsbook team,
spearheaded by Kristian, put together a business
plan that would lead to the founding of what would
eventually become Kambi. Within the space of a few
months, the board had given the go ahead to create a
full B2B sportsbook business.
2009
Live betting was a major driver of change
because it was extremely resource intensive.
It was going to be too expensive for many
companies to do that on their own.
ERIK LÖGDBERGManaging Director, Kambi Sportsbook
THE BIRTH OF B2B SPORTS BETTING
Unibet’s newly formed B2B sports betting
division was now free to sell its vision to
other B2C operators. Soon, Kambi as we
know it today would be born.
2010
VISION QUICKLY BECOMES REALITY
FIRST B2B PARTNER SIGNING
In no time at all, discussions were well underway with Finnish operator Paf which
immediately saw the value in taking a full sportsbook service from Unibet. Negotiations were
led by Tony Johansson, Kambi’s Head of Sales at the time.
2010
In 2010, Unibet signed a three-year partnership with Paf, placing further confidence in Kristian
and Anders’ bold decision to create a B2B sportsbook service for the evolving market.
The following year, Paf was launched as the first customer on what would become the Kambi
platform. It remains a Kambi partner to this very day.
FOUNDING KAMBI
In October 2010, prior to the launch of Paf,
Kambi Sports Solutions was officially founded,
opting against the floated name of ‘The
Sportsbook Network’. Kristian Nylén was
appointed CEO.
2010
We came up with the name Kambi, which means ‘perfection’ in Japanese, which suited us very
well as we were a group of perfectionists
KRISTIAN NYLÉNKambi Co-Founder and CEO
It wasn’t all plain sailing to begin with. Kambi’s business model was new to
the market, while
some questioned Kambi’s independence due to its association with Unibet.
Kambi had to wait two years before signing its next partner but as
regulation began to pick up
pace, Kambi signed four in 2012, building an increasingly powerful partner network where
efficiencies of scale could be realised.
Listen to Kristian Nylén on Kambi’s first few years of operation
BUILDING TRUST THROUGH INDEPENDENCE
On Monday 2 June 2014, CEO and Co-founder Kristian Nylén rang the bell at the Nasdaq Stockholm
First North on what was a landmark day in Kambi’s history.
2014
This public listing symbolised that Kambi was now a truly standalone company and in
charge of its own destiny to become the world’s trusted sports betting partner.
Trust has always been at the heart of Kambi’s relationship with its partners. Its public listing was
a key milestone in building on that trust, giving partners added confidence in Kambi.
The respect for Kambi management and the board to run the company independent of any customer
is incredibly strong. Today, no one is so concerned that one or two customers have more of a
say than anyone else – we develop the product for the benefit of everyone in the Kambi
network.
ANDERS STRÖMKambi Co-Founder and Chair of the Board
PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS
As predicted by Kambi’s founders, an increasing number of European
countries began to regulate sports betting and live betting became more prevalent. This
pattern vindicated Kambi’s outsourced model, as operators faced higher barriers to entry if
going it alone, with Kambi becoming increasingly attractive, particularly as an independent
company.
A FLURRY OF NEW PARTNERS
Numerous partner signings followed, putting Kambi well on its way to
market leadership
CREATING HISTORY STATESIDE
Between 2014 and 2018, Kambi enjoyed great success, particularly in Europe.
However, regulatory change in the United States would soon deliver an opportunity like no other,
with Kambi’s outsourced model about to become more popular than ever.
With a ban on betting in place across the majority of the United States, a change in law would
create a market in need of experienced outsourced sportsbook services.
From day one, Kambi had kept a close eye on the US. By focusing on licensed markets and
upholding the highest standards of regulatory compliance, the founders had set up the business
in a way that would enable Kambi to enter the US market swiftly upon regulation.
We always had an eye on the US market and when it would regulate. One of the best strategic
decisions we made, as far back as 2004, was to stay away from the unregulated US so we could
ensure fast entry in the future.
KRISTIAN FRIBERGKambi’s former Head of Partner Success
FEDERAL SPORTS BETTING BAN IS REPEALED
2018
On 22 May 2018, the global sports betting market was forever changed when the US Supreme Court
overturned a law prohibiting sports wagering, and opened the door to regulated US sports
betting.
Hear Kristian discuss the expansion of sports betting in the US
Kambi was quick to strike several commercial agreements with operators and its experience in
licensed markets across the world, as well as the relationships it had developed with US
regulators, ensured it was action ready.
KAMBI MAKES SPORTS BETTING HISTORY
On 1 August 2018 Kambi made history by taking the first legal online wager in the United
States.
What started as a friendship group at university
developed into a powerhouse of the sports betting industry.
Today, Kambi is not only the leading sportsbook provider to the US market, but to operators
across the globe with more than 1,000 employees across offices in Malta, Australia, Denmark,
Philippines,
Romania, Sweden, the UK and the United States
The vision and commitment of the Co-Founders enabled Kambi to become the world’s number one
sportsbook partner, a position they continue to enjoy today. In May 2024, Kristian was
elected to the Kambi Board of Directors, taking his place alongside Chair of the Board
Anders, where their passion and foresight continues to drive the business forward.
