The Bulgaria-based company Flipps, which developed the FITE combat sports streaming platform, has acquired the American star-up Avid AI, as announced by Capital.bg, the leading business media in Bulgaria. Avid AI focuses on machine learning based solutions that help customize digital platforms. Flipps aims to expand the capabilities of FITE by offering users tailored content according to their interests and preferences.
The deal will be paid in shares and cash, however the company did not disclose the exact deal value. As part of the acquisition, Avid AI’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Lee, a former Partner in the Sequoia Capital, will join the FITE board of directors.
Flipps, which has offices in the United States and in Bulgaria, began as a platform for distributing video content on the Internet to TVs connected to the network. Over time, the company focused on combat sports and created the FITE platform, which broadcasts real-time ring events with the ability to be viewed on Internet-connected TVs. Currently, the platform has nearly 1 million registered users, of which over 90% are in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. FITE transmits over a thousand live events annually and is approved by HBO and UFC as a pay-per-view service.
The first investors in the company included Bulgarian VC fund LAUNCHub, followed by Tim Draper from the Silicon Valley, who is an investor in companies such as Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX and others, as well as the pan-European Earlybird Fund. According to the Crunchbase database, Flipps has so far raised $8.2 M of funding.
According to Flipps’ Co-founder and Executive Director Kostadin Yordanov (former Executive Director of Bianor, a Bulgarian software developer), in the short term, the company aims to focus on combat sports and expand its user base and content. Further down the road development goals include expanding coverage by including other live events, including musical concerts and motor sports, and positioning FITE as the “leading platform for streaming premium live events”.
