Marina Ilina, PIN-UP Global: “Our goal is stable growth and maintaining a high level of quality of products and services”

Marina Ilina, CEO of PIN-UP Global, reflects on the milestones and challenges PIN-UP Global faced throughout 2024 and shares its plans and priorities for the coming year.

Exclusive interview.- Marina Ilina granted Focus Gaming News an exclusive interview where she highlighted PIN-UP Global milestones achieved throughout 2024, including the transition to a holding company structure and significant advancements in B2B markets. She also outlined the priorities for PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS in 2025 and discussed the plans for PIN-UP Global in the upcoming year.

What have been the most significant milestones and achievements for PIN-UP Global this year?

The most significant milestone is our restructuring and transition to a holding company format with a focus on the B2B market. This move is a continuation of the PIN-UP evolution and is aimed at creating a stronger and more sustainable foundation for our future growth and development. The practical experience and expertise that our team has accumulated over the years will be used by us in a new context and with the new opportunities that the business reorganisation presents. Moving into B2B allows us to offer our developments to market players and work together to create a better experience for users around the world. 

I would also like to mention our tremendous growth – this year the PIN-UP Global team has grown by 1,300 professionals. And given that we always strive for quality rather than quantity, this means that there has been an incredibly powerful strengthening of our potential. 

In addition, we are very proud that this year we were recognised with awards at the most honoured conferences: PIN-UP Global took the Best Workplace award at SIGMA Europe, and our chief analytics officer Vladimir Todurov was named Industry Trendsetter at the SiGMA East Europe Awards.

From your perspective, what have been the standout trends or shifts in the igaming industry during 2024, and how has PIN-UP Global responded to them?

Automation, simplifying interfaces and replacing human labour with software solutions are already moving the industry forward – and it’s not just about artificial intelligence. Automation touches all key processes from communicating with players and choosing the best funnel for it, to the right triggers for retention. 

At PIN-UP Global, we automate every possible process. This is a necessary step to get rid of routine and focus experts on complex cases with tangible business impact. We do not burden our experts with a thousand identical tasks that can be easily closed programmatically, and thus they have resources for important, game-changing projects.

What were some of the key challenges PIN-UP Global faced this year, and how did the company overcome them?

The key challenges for 2024 are strategic scaling, development of new business areas, active investment and introduction of promising companies into the PIN-UP holding. Our goal is stable growth and maintaining a high level of quality of products and services. And despite the constant increase in the number of technologies and businesses, as well as the expansion of geographical presence, we do everything to remain flexible and in a good sense predictable for our partners. In the outgoing year, we refreshed our technology stack to aim for markets that fit our strategy and can maximize growth in 2025.

This year’s challenge is also about finding strong management, because as our business scales and grows, we need even more experienced, creative and decisive people, and the better the structural management should be. Taking into account our volumes, I believe that PIN-UP Global has gathered an unimaginable number of specialists with the most powerful expertise on the market this year.  

“We do everything to remain flexible and in a good sense predictable for our partners.”

What are the key achievements PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS has accomplished over the past year?

In 2024, PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS achieved significant results in the development of the investment area of the holding company. We successfully invested in about ten projects in various domains – from gaming technologies to fintech solutions. One of the most interesting cases is an innovative platform that allows us to integrate clickable advertising into Twitch streams and place advertising materials on surfaces inside the game in real-time.

Over the course of the year, we have built an effective process to support portfolio companies by providing them with access to PIN-UP Global’s technology, expertise and resources. This approach allows projects to significantly accelerate their development and achieve their business goals faster.

What are the key priorities for PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS in 2025, and how do they align with the broader goals of PIN-UP Global?

In 2025, the main priority of PIN-UP.INVESTMENTS is to expand its investment portfolio in key areas: marketing (advertising platforms, traffic, arbitrage teams), gaming (GameDev and iGaming projects), fintech/blockchain (Web3 solutions, crypto projects, payment systems), software development (AI solutions, user services and other software products).

We focus on projects with the following characteristics: ready-made MVP with a clear business model, proven market testing results, established financial model, potential for rapid scaling.

Portfolio companies get access to the unique advantages of the holding company. Firstly, it is our technical and product expertise, deep understanding of igaming-industry, assistance in strategic planning. Secondly, it is PIN-UP infrastructure: access to the technological base, integration with existing products, operational support (legal, financial). Thirdly, – scaling. And this means quick market entry, testing on a real audience and assistance in product development.

Can you share insights into any innovative projects or strategies PIN-UP Global plans to pursue in 2025?

With the transition to B2B our platform and authoring software solutions became available to other brands, not only PIN-UP, so we will develop the platform, Marketing & Segmentation Tool, CRM & Customer support tool, Affiliate & traffic generated tool. We focus on products that solve complex problems in an integrated way. That’s why very soon we will introduce to the market a new anti-fraud product that will simplify business risk management in igaming. I can give a small spoiler – it will be the most understandable and convenient solution for large companies, which will be able to cover all their needs in the field of antifraud.    

We are sure that our tools will remove a lot of “pains” of business owners and will help to increase the level of satisfaction of their clients.

“We focus on products that solve complex problems in an integrated way.”

As CEO, what do you see as PIN-UP Global’s unique role or contribution to the future of the igaming industry?

Our role in the industry is to be a leader, to set trends for the whole market, and to provide businesses in igaming with exactly those technological solutions and products that they lack. It sounds both simple and complicated at the same time. So, we are continuously engaged in the process of breaking down this very “complicated” into simple and understandable tasks in order to go towards our goal. That’s why PIN-UP is being talked about, and will be talked about even more very soon!