Skillz aims to broaden its footprint across the mobile gaming industry by combining its competitive platform with Aarki’s advertising capabilities, with the latter currently engaging in more than five trillion monthly advertising auctions.

Skillz will acquire 100% of Aarki for $150m in cash and stock, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. LionTree Advisors served as financial advisor for the deal, while Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Skillz.

“Joining Skillz will offer tremendous advantages to both the Aarki team and our customer community,” said Aarki CEO Levon Budagyan. “Harnessing the combined power of our data science platforms will further increase our industry-leading performance marketing.”

Aarki’s 160 employees will join the Skillz team, while Budagyan will continue to lead the business as a division of Skillz.

Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise commented: “Aarki’s proven machine learning will pair with Skillz’s robust first-party data to create an unrivalled value proposition for game developers.

“The integrated ecosystem will unlock new points of connectivity between consumers, developers, and brands, pairing the right impression with the right user at the right time, all while delivering a superior user experience.”