Gaming
Odeeo Raises $1M to Bring Non-Disruptive Audio Ads to Games
The $1 million pre-seed round was led by Play Ventures, the leading early-stage gaming VC, with participation from gaming founders and angel investors such as Eric Seufert (through his Mobile Dev Memo Syndicate) and Michail Katkoff (founder of ‘Deconstructor of Fun’ and Savage Game Studios). Odeeo aims to help publishers monetize better with non-intrusive audio ads that respect player experience and privacy.
The Tel-Aviv based company was founded earlier this year by CEO Amit Monheit and CPO Elad Stern, who met and worked together at mobile monetization platform IronSource, where they led business development and media.
Odeeo is an alumnus of IDCX Studio, a super-seed studio managed by Israeli VC firm AnD Ventures, Mixer Work & Lounge, and the IDC Alumni Association – securing their $1M pre-seed round under 6 months. “We are extremely proud of Amit & Elad”, says Ariel Cohen, Partner, AnD Ventures & IDCX Studio program lead. “Their laser-focused strategy and relentlessness in disrupting a large existing market are incredible!”
Odeeo offers advertisers a rare opportunity: to be among the first to connect with one-third of the globe’s population via non-disruptive, personalized audio messages in mobile games, the world’s fastest-growing entertainment medium. Its lightweight SDK has already been integrated with over 100 games, serving campaigns by Fortune 500 brands such as McDonald’s, CBS, and Progressive — and has a waitlist of over 200 additional game titles.
“Odeeo has made incredible progress this last year, with our product, our client waitlist, and our extraordinary team of top talents”, say the co-founders. “We are excited to now be backed by great value-add investors who will help us get to the next level even faster”. The company aims to shake up in-game advertising, a huge market that currently drives 25% of the $175.8 billion that the games industry is projected to generate in 2021.
Odeeo says existing options inhibit and disrupt gameplay in a way audio ads do not. “As gamers, we understand the frustration of seeing yet another pop-up in the midst of our session, and we also know that publishers are looking for better ways to monetize especially with CPM compression and degraded targeting current options offer. Odeeo is a Win-Win-Win solution for gamers, developers, and advertisers”, says CEO Amit.
In-game advertising is already a huge market, but Odeeo says its platform is differentiated by focusing on building a product that supports game advertising at scale. The $1 million funding will enable the team to accelerate client onboarding and development of its platform where advertisers can bid programmatically through traditional ad-buying platforms on IAB-recognized formats, using unique targeting capabilities.
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Battle of the Tribes
POLYTOPIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 BREAKS RECORD PARTICIPATION AS FINALS DRAW CLOSER
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Celebrated strategy game The Battle of Polytopia confirms its first ever World Championships has exceeded expectations with over 10,000 sign-ups in its qualifying rounds. While no stranger to tournaments, previously hosting smaller scale, local tournaments called ‘Polysseums’, developer Midjiwan’s first step into global esports has been met with extreme success. The inclusive esports event has a $10,000 prize pool and will conclude on 6 December 2025, 14:00-21:00.
The finals will take place in front of a live-studio audience, with expert commentary and a chance to peek behind the scenes at Midjiwan itself. First place will receive $4,000, the runner-up will take away $2,000, the third and fourth place finishers will get $1,500, and the fifth and sixth place $500.
The Polytopia World Championship 2025 is being hosted by eSports platform, Challengermode, who Midjiwan has relied on for its monthly local tournaments since 2022. Midjiwan also partnered with Black Molly Entertainment to help organise and manage the event. Black Molly Entertainment have years of experience managing eSports tournaments, with notable events including the Geoguesser World Cup and CS:GO Pinnacle Cup Championship.
Midjiwan has worked closely with its community to ensure engagement is high with each round, building a bespoke ‘Spectator Mode’ into the game so fans can watch each game live through the game itself. In the spectator mode the viewer has visibility of all players simultaneously, with stats on how many cities, technologies, kills and more available for quick access.
Christian Lovstedt, CEO of Midjiwan commented:
“Polytopia has always been about welcoming all kinds of players into the world of 4X strategy. That’s why our championship is open to everyone – not just pros with sponsors. We’ve been thrilled at the amount of interest this tournament received from our community, reaching participation numbers way beyond our expectations. We’re excited to bring the finalists to Stockholm and can’t wait to see the strategies that emerge.”
The Polytopia World Championship 2025 kicked off in September, with its ‘Battle of the Tribes’ qualifying round – weekly battles where players competed to be the best in each of the game’s 12 tribes. After an exciting six weeks, the top player from each tribe faced-off, reducing the qualifiers to six finalists. These six winners are listed down below.
|
Tribe |
Qualifying Player |
|
IMPERIUS |
ArthurL248 |
|
BARDUR |
slimmingboy |
|
OUMAJI |
Dreamlander3000 |
|
HOODRICK |
Theetat |
|
XIN-Xi |
LeLiberateur |
|
LUXIDOOR |
Meisterlampe |
Recaps of each round of the tournament prior to the finals can be watched on the official Battle of Polytopia YouTube channel.
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Part 1: Polytopia World Championship 1st Qualifiers Wrap-Up – BARDUR, IMPERIUS, KICKOO, ZEBASI
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Part 2: Qualifiers Wrap-Up – Oumaji Hoodrick Yadakk & Quetzali – World Champoinship 2025
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Part 3: Final Qualifiers Wrap-Up – Xin-Xi, Luxidoor, Ai-Mo & Vengir – World Championship 2025
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Face-off stream: https://youtube.com/live/GnU6mWPoJiY?feature=share
To watch the finals live on December 6,visit here: https://polytopia.io/stream/
To stay up to date on the Polytopia World Championship 2025, or purchase one of the limited tickets for the live event, visit the official website or join the Official Polytopia Discord.
The post POLYTOPIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 BREAKS RECORD PARTICIPATION AS FINALS DRAW CLOSER appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Betiator
Delasport Unveils a Crash Game for Sports Betting
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Leading iGaming supplier Delasport teases a one-of-a-kind sports betting crash game called Betiator – a new in-play experience that merges live sports with the tension and excitement of crash games.
Inspired by the groundbreaking casino genre, the company once again pushes the whole industry to a new phase in evolution by allowing sports bettors to play in the same easy and fun way as fellow casino players. Crash games are booming in the casino world, showing that players crave more emotional, fast, and visually engaging formats – and Betiator brings that same adrenaline-charged energy to the sportsbook.
It changes the scene by introducing a truly innovative way to bet on sports, keeping players at the edge of their seats during the game. Designed to excite both sports bettors and casino players, it marks a defining moment for innovation.
This product comes as a logical next step in the evolution of live betting and the company’s goal to disrupt the iGaming industry. It demonstrates Delasport’s successful commitment to unique innovation: a strategy they call “Going Beyond Content” –building on the success of products and features like SuperPot, My Sportsbook, My Combo, Double My Winnings, and many more.
“Sports bettors deserve the same level of innovation and excitement that casino players get all the time,” Delasport’s CEO Oren Cohen Shwartz says. “At Delasport we’re taking the whole game to a new playing field with Betiator. Live betting won’t feel outdated anymore as we’re bringing in the thrill of the casino to sports betting.”
While details about Betiator remain under wraps for now, Delasport promises a completely new way to experience live sports. Operators and partners eager to see it in action can schedule exclusive demos and discover more at ICE Barcelona 2026, taking place January 19–21, where Betiator will make its official debut.
The post Delasport Unveils a Crash Game for Sports Betting appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Central Europe
game’s 2026 industry barometer – the mood in the German games industry is beginning to brighten
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The post game’s 2026 industry barometer – the mood in the German games industry is beginning to brighten appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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