Igor Lestar
Swedish entrepreneur and investor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Igor Lestar (born 11 June 1972 in Uppsala, Sweden) is a Swedish entrepreneur and investor known primarily for founding Seavus, a software development and consulting company, and BtoBet, a sports betting technology provider. He also owns Clip Media Group, the largest digital media company in North Macedonia.[1]
Career
Seavus
Lestar co-founded Seavus in 1999 alongside Richard Murbeck and Gligor Dacevski in Malmö, Sweden.[2] In 2001, the company established its main development center in Skopje, North Macedonia.[2] In 2004, under Lestar's leadership, Seavus expanded beyond Europe by opening sales offices in Boston and London, and developed a new integrated online sales system for its products division.[2] The company grew to employ over 800 IT specialists across more than 15 offices in eight countries, serving a portfolio of over 4,000 customers including global telecom operators, banking and financial institutions, and technology companies.[3]
Seavus also became a significant force in North Macedonia's technology ecosystem, with many former employees going on to found their own companies, creating what has been described as a "Seavus mafia" analogous to the PayPal Mafia.[2] The company operated an accelerator programme that supported more than 45 startups in fintech, AI, blockchain, gaming, and e-commerce verticals between 2011 and 2022.[2]
In 2019, Seavus was ranked among the top 50 global managed service providers in the Channel Futures MSP 501 list.[4]
Lestar served as CEO of Seavus until February 2017, after which he transitioned to the role of Chairman of the Board.[3] In 2020, Seavus was acquired by ARICOMA Group, a subsidiary of the KKCG holding group, which at the time of acquisition had consolidated revenues of €300 million and over 2,800 employees.[5] Lestar described the sale as a deliberate strategic decision to enable greater international expansion through a stronger financial partner, adding that new hires were planned with a target of growing the workforce to 2,500–3,000 people.[3] Following the acquisition, the software products division of Seavus was separated and continued independently as Synami, while the IT services division was merged into Qinshift.[2]
BtoBet
In 1999, Lestar established an iGaming division within Seavus, which in 2017 was spun out as an independent company under the name BtoBet, specialising in B2B sports betting software solutions and services.[6] In September 2020, BtoBet was acquired by Aspire Global in a deal structured as a €15 million cash payment with a €5 million earnout based on BtoBet's performance in the 12 months following closing.[7][8]
In December 2023, Lestar and BtoBet co-founder and CEO Alessandro Fried filed a legal claim in the High Court of England and Wales against Aspire Global, alleging that Aspire had breached the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement by deliberately reducing BtoBet's 2022 EBITDA results in order to lower the earnout consideration owed to the founders. The claimants alleged that costs incurred by BtoBet for services generating revenue after 2022 were improperly excluded from the earnout calculation, disproportionately benefiting Aspire as the buyer. Aspire denied the allegations, contending that BtoBet had underperformed during the earnout period and that its products were not fully fit for purpose following the acquisition.[7]
Media ownership
Lestar has been active in the North Macedonian media sector since 2007, when he acquired the weekly publication Forum Plus.[1] In 2009, he acquired Makfax, the first private news agency in North Macedonia, which subsequently became part of Clip Media Group alongside several digital news outlets.[1] Clip Media Group has been identified by the Media Ownership Monitor, a project of Reporters Without Borders, as a significant media ownership interest in North Macedonia.[1]
Hut4 Capital
Following the divestment of Seavus and BtoBet, Lestar established Hut4 Capital, a private investment group with portfolio companies operating across software development (Synami), digital media (Clip Media Group), fintech, real estate, and mobile gaming.[3]