Company History

Meridian was founded in 2001 by Aleksandar Milovanovic as a retail sports betting operator in Serbia. The development of the business since 2001 can be split into three distinct phases, as follows:

Phase I: Founding of Meridian and initial beginnings (2001 to 2007)

Phase II: Reorganisation and developments of the technology platform and franchise 2008 to 2014

Phase III: Continued growth and machine learning (2015 to present)

Phase I: Founding of the Meridian and initial beginnings (2001 to 2007)

During phase I, Meridian opened a number of sports betting shops in Serbia, followed by expansion in to Montenegro in 2000. Over the following seven years, Meridian launched sports betting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Macedonia.

Phase II: Reorganisation and developments of the technology platform and franchise (2008 to 2014)

Phase II was characterised by three events: the reorganisation of Meridian in 2008; the development of its own proprietary technology platform; and subsequent adoption of Meridian’s franchise model.

Zoran Milosevic and Snezana Bozovic joined the Board as CEO and CFO respectively at the end of 2007, and oversaw a considerable reorganisation of Meridian and its strategy. Pursuant to this reorganisation and change in strategy, the Romanian and Macedonian operations were sold.

During this period, Meridian developed and moved to its own proprietary technology platform (of which the sports betting software is known as BetShopManager™).  This platform provided Meridian with the capabilities to manage the requirements of its B2C operations as well as its B2B offerings under the franchise model and enabled the expansion of the number channels and betting options available including “in-play” betting.

Meridian commenced offering sports betting online in 2015 in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and casino and other fixed odds games online in 2016.

During this period, Meridian launched in a number of new jurisdictions around the world including Cyprus, Tanzania, Germany, Czech Republic, Zambia, Russia, Ukraine, Jamaica and the Seychelles.

Phase III: Continued growth and machine learning (2015 to present)

Phase III saw the development of ‘Meridian’ brand internationally with B2C operations launching in regulated markets around the world, both through organic expansion into new territories or the acquisition of local partners (such as the 49% acquisition of Meridian’s franchisee operations in East Africa) and the further rollout of the franchise model.

Over this period, Meridian launched B2C operations in Cyprus, the UK, Greece and Spain and through its B2B franchise or joint venture model in several countries including South Africa, Peru, Belgium, Greece and Rwanda.

As noted above, in February 2018, Meridian entered into a conditional agreement to acquire operations of its East African franchise.