Former Triggy chief executive Martina Åkerlund has made headlines this week after leaving the company to become CEO of reactivation start-up CallsU.

Below, Åkerlund looks back on Triggy turning EBITDA positive under her leadership and discusses her love of working in the global iGaming industry:

iGN: Tell us about your new company.

MA: CallsU is a newly launched company that offers customised calls, emails and texts to boost conversions. The company uses marketing automation software that allows for no-code and low-code integrations. We combine business data with decades of sales expertise to conduct localised calls that align with business goals and target customers.

iGN: What is your new role?

MA: CEO and partner.

IGN: Where will you be based?

MA: We are working fully remote even though the company is registered in Malta where we also have an office. I will be working remotely from my home in Nice, France, in combination with attending tradeshows to build our brand and sales.

iGN: How many staff will you have?

MA: To begin with, about 40, but that will increase as we launch new customers.

iGN: How are you going to market the company after the official launch?

MA: I started officially on 1 September and we are launching this week. My first trade show will be SBC Barcelona and I will also go to G2E this year and SiGMA World, as well as both iGaming NEXT events after the turn of the year. Building the brand is what we’re doing right now, in terms of how we position it and what it should represent. We are also looking at who the big players are in each market and how we can support them with our product.

iGN: Are you opening up to operators in all markets?

MA: That is fair to say, but our main focus initially will be on Europe. Then Asia and Latam are highly interesting, with North America of course as well. Then we might look at other industries within a year or so.

iGN: You had a successful career in banking before joining Triggy as CEO. What made you want to stick around in gaming and launch a new company in the space?

MA: What is there not to love? I did 20 years in banking and finance, and I really enjoyed that from the start. But 20 years ago, that industry was almost like the gaming industry is now. It was full of possibilities as an industry under development. Now it’s mature and it’s all cost cutting, high competition and lots of regulation. Basically, it’s just not that fun anymore. But it’s still based on the same components as iGaming, like regulation, data, transactions and user experience. The industries have many similarities, but the iGaming industry is still in its infancy, and I love to be part of that.

iGN: Is there a competitor in this space?

MA: Enteractive I would say is our major competitor.

iGN: Why was the timing right to leave Triggy?

MA: I had three amazing years at Triggy where we have taken the company from start-up to scale-up. Triggy is now in a great position to continue to grow, where I will continue to support the company as a member of the board of directors. It was time for a new challenge, and I couldn’t be more excited about the new role.

iGN: Which accomplishment were you most proud of during your time as Triggy CEO?

MA: Taking the company from start-up to scale-up by improving our tech, products and sales. We embraced the challenges brought upon us the last three years with both Covid and financial crisis. Our team was able to more than triple our revenues in spite of these macro forces which impacted many companies more severely.

We also managed to make Triggy EBITDA positive, a feat most entrepreneurs recognise as the first milestone to success. At the same time, I have tried to be a voice and a role model to inspire other women to pursue a career within the gaming industry to increase diversity. I believe that we are even better when we build companies and teams that are a mix of gender, origin, experience and age.

iGN: What are the top three goals for your new company over the next 12 months?

MA: First, build the brand recognition to be the brand of choice for those organisations that are looking for help with their new conversions and reactivations. I also aim to transform CallsU into an efficient organisation where our employees genuinely enjoy their daily work, and we maintain a low turnover rate. With all of the challenges workers face these days, being a source of inspiration for those who work with us will be a key goal for me in the next year.

Finally in the first year, we will seek out those customers who are also looking for a fresh start and want to work with a company which is choosing to make a difference, not only through achieving above average returns, but also through engaging with their brands and marketing teams to build the most positive space for their players.

Triggy CEO Martina Åkerlund has left the Swedish sports tech company to take over at start-up business CallsU.

CallsU is a newly launched Malta-based company that offers customised calls, emails, SMS messages and mobile chat options to boost customer conversion rates.

The firm uses marketing automation software that allows for no-code and low-code integrations and is looking to make an impact in the iGaming sector initially.

“I am super excited for the possibility to be part of the launch of a new company that offers an amazing product that adds great value to our customers at prices that are far more reasonable than other providers in the market,” said Åkerlund.

“A fresh start with a company looking to build a great brand, organisation, and communication strategy, wherein I can combine my knowledge from previous roles as well as setting up efficient organisations and processes which I really enjoy,” she added.

Åkerlund enjoyed a 20-year career in the Swedish finance sector with companies including Swedbank and Marginalen Bank before joining Triggy as CEO in October 2020.

That marked her first CEO role and also her first foray into the online gambling sector, with Triggy specialised in personalised sports betting engagement software.

Åkerlund will remain a member of the board of directors at Triggy.

She will work remotely from her home in Nice, France, in her new role as CallsU CEO.

“My goals for CallsU over the next 12 months will be to build the brand of choice for those organisations that are looking for help with their newly registered conversions and reactivations,” she added.

“In the first year, we will seek out those customers who are also looking for a fresh start and want to work with a company who are choosing to make a difference, not only through achieving above average returns, but also through engaging with their brands and marketing teams to build the most positive space for their players.”

Betsson Operations CEO Jesper Svensson believes the gambling industry has made big strides in diversity and inclusion (D&I) since the beginning of his career but admits there is still much work to be done.

Svensson was speaking on a panel of C-level executives about the creation of inclusive workplaces, alongside Triggy CEO Martina Akerlund and BeyondPlay CTO Cristina Turbatu. The panel was part of a diversity and inclusion-focused conference track presented by iGaming NEXT in collaboration with Betsson Group.

“I remember when I started in the industry, the first event I went to at ICE, they were using pole dancers,” Svensson told the audience of conference attendees. “That was not very inclusive. In fact, it was quite grotesque. 

“When you look back 15 years to how it was back then, versus how it is today, there has been a really, really good and healthy development in many ways. But there’s still quite a bit left still to do.”

Svensson’s fellow panellists agreed that the industry’s approach has improved significantly, driven by forward-thinking companies and executives who put the topic at the centre of their corporate strategy.

Within businesses, the most important thing for creating an inclusive workplace is to embed it within a company’s culture, the panel agreed.

“When you look back 15 years to how it was back then, versus how it is today, there has been a really, really good and healthy development in many ways. But there’s still quite a bit left still to do.”

Svensson continued: “If we all agree that talent doesn’t see colour, age, gender, or anything like this, then you need to have a representation that reflects society in many ways, or the parts of the society you’re focusing on as a company. 

“I think in any company, the C-levels need to look at themselves and say, ‘it doesn’t matter who you are, as long as you have talent’, and give people a chance for that. And if executives don’t agree with that, they’re probably not very talented, and they should not be at the C-level to begin with.”

The panel said that in addition to creating the best possible workplace environment, championing D&I as a strategy can also bring significant commercial benefits.

BeyondPlay CTO Turbatu said: “We believe that you need to have diverse environments in order to develop diverse products and be able to address the entire market.

“I think for many years in the gaming industry, this has not necessarily been focused on. Within our company, we did try to build a diverse environment from the start, not only from a male and female or other gender perspective, but also culturally.”

The ability to create cultural diversity within a business has been one of the benefits of the widespread introduction of remote and hybrid work in recent years, Turbatu added.

“Working remotely at the moment does facilitate the ability to address multiple cultures and multiple age groups, and I think by having all those viewpoints when you design a product, especially at the start, gives you the ability to have an impact on what you’re building and how you’re addressing it.

“I think having feedback from all people at the table is very important in any industry,” she added.