- The University of Western Ontario
2008-2012
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Salz is a young Co-Founder and CEO, starting Rivalry in 2017 just five years after graduating from university. In June 2023, Rivalry launched an esports betting mobile app in Ontario.
After introducing the mobile betting app, Salz commented: “Mobile betting is a significant addition for our Ontario operations and core audience of Millennial and Gen Z consumers that prefer the flexibility of betting on their phones.
“Launching a mobile app adds an important layer of accessibility to our product, increasing our addressable market in Ontario, and allowing us to bring esports betting to more customers in the region and ultimately grow the category.”
The company also provides a ‘Rivalry Academy’, an academic portal designed to educate younger and less experienced players. Rivalry provides videos and articles, as well as being available in multiple languages.
Rivalry went public via a direct listing in 2021. In November 2023, Rivalry announced a $14m investment to boost growth.
EMPLOYMENT
Salz graduated from The University of Western Ontario in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). Following on from this, he worked as an Associate at Portfolio Advisory Group from August 2012 to January 2014, where he was involved in Canadian and US equity research. At the beginning of 2014 Salz moved to M Partners in Toronto, where he was employed as an Equity Research Analyst for almost 3 years.
After a six-month gap, Salz reappeared as the Director of Loot Market in 2017, an in-game item marketplace and service providing a free-to-play esports betting experience through Loot League. The company is no longer running.
From April 2017, Salz also held the position of Director at PlayVIG, a software company offering completion to video games by providing quests & complete in-game achievements.
During this time, Salz launched his own company, an esports betting site offering regulated online betting on esports, traditional sports, and casino games. Salz co-founded the company alongside the previous co-founders of LootMarket, Ryan White and Kevin Wimer, where Salz previously worked as Director.
Rivalry is aimed towards the younger generations, marketing itself as a Gen Z and Millennial gaming site for those who ‘grew up on the internet’. Salz is currently CEO and has held this position since co-founding the company in 2017.
“The company was built top to bottom for Millennials and Gen Z. Even so much as 80% of the staffing are Millennials and Gen Z. We came from this demographic cohort, we felt it wasn’t well served… Everything is built for somebody that grew up on the internet, that was born in the late 90s or early 2000s, that has a very different type of consumer experience that they’re used to. So really it was catering everything, the entire experience, to that cohort.” Steven Salz
