Despite its skyrocketing Q4 2021 net losses, innovative sports, and technology company Genius Sports managed to grow its revenue by almost 79%, reaching $84 million. The upcoming two years are looking bright for the company with profitability on the horizon, according to the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
Genius Sports Recorded $262.7 Million in Full Year Revenue in 2021
Besides the impressive revenue growth recorded during the fourth quarter of 2021, the company that is present on six continents also grew its full-year revenue to $262.7 million in 2021 from $150 million in the previous year.
At the same time, the trusted partner to more than 400 worldwide sports organizations recorded a substantially larger whole year net loss from $30.3 million in 2020 to more than $590 million in 2021. The fourth-quarter net loss numbers reflected a similar growth to $53.3 million in 2021 from $13.5 million in 2020.
Genius Sports’ Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) was also adjusted with a loss of $12.5 million for the fourth quarter, compared to the $4 million EBITDA during Q4 2020. The respective decrease was caused by the fast pace at which the company made new growth investments.
In 2021, the company’s services, content, and media technology recorded double year-over-year revenues compared to 2020, reaching $17.1 million. Services and sports technology revenues reached $13 million and were three times bigger than the revenues recorded by these segments in Q4 2020. Sports betting, services, and content generated close to $53 million of Q4’s total revenue for 2021. Similar results were obtained on the full-year analysis, where sports betting, services, and content accounted for most of the year’s revenue that reached $177 million.
2021, a Transformational Year for Genius Sports
Co-founder and chief executive officer Matt Locke called 2021 “a transformational year” during which the company created a series of innovative ties with new brands, sportsbooks, and important sports leagues. For example, the company became the exclusive data partner of the National Football League as well as the Basketball Africa League’s official supplier of sports statistics in real-time in 2021. Last year, Genius also purchased a series of free-to-play games, along with a platform for creative performance.
All these new connections led Genius to the record-breaking revenue during Q4 2021, while matching the fresh and vibrant identity of the company and its thirst for a simpler and more connected brand.
Locke also expressed his optimism concerning 2022 and 2023, with projected profitability of $440 million and adjusted EBITDA of around $15 million for 2022, and EBITDA somewhere between $40 million and $50 million in 2023. This year is expected to be “another strong and profitable year” as the company is capitalizing on its new opportunities to grow while continuing the expansion of its services all across the globe. In January 2022, the company renewed its partnership with bet365 and Betway.
With a clear mission to create and lead a much more sustainable ecosystem for sports data ecosystems that can benefit everyone from rights holders all the way down to fans, Genius Sports is already the partner of hundreds of sports organizations including the International Basketball Federation, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the English Premier League, or the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.