Women in iGaming Has Anything Actually Changed? | Caroline Björkman, Cubeia

iGaming Real Talk is launching new interview series from BiS SiGMA South America. The event has matured into a perfect melting point for business in Brazil and also Latin American market. In two days, we have had conversations with leaders, experts from mature businesses in LatAm and Brazil, and we talked about the regulation as well as the state of the market in Brazil after regulation. This series is brought to you by EvoVerse.

They offer custom crypto casino source code so that you can launch your crypto casino the way you want it, and you can have full control over your margins and the product. This series is also brought to you by Blockotech, which is your go-to platform provider for LatAm market. The Blocko Padel Tour, sponsored by SiGMA, also brings together global iGaming community with sport, fun, and competition across some of the events. Hello and welcome back to iGaming Real Talk.

I'm here with Carolina, head of sales at Kubeya. We are here in SiGMA São Paulo, Brazil, day two. And we're going to be discussing and discovering her journey into iGaming as well as more about Kubeya. So, Carolina, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much for having me.

Thank you for the opportunity. I know it took a while to kind of reorganize and things but...

It's always super hectic. Now I'm here and I'm ready.

Amazing. The first time I looked at Kubera I was a couple of days ago in the SiGMA Coco tour.

Yes.

It was everywhere and obviously Kubera is very close to a god in India...

Yes.

which is Kubera. So I quite like that name because there is some similarities as well. But the thing is, is the brand new because I checked the website it says since 2007 but I haven't heard it maybe I didn't look at the right places or whatever. But can you like talk a little bit about the brand, how it started and how it's going?

Absolutely. So you're right about that. The company was founded in 2007 and it's a Swedish company so we started out quite small and now we're just growing and becoming bigger and bigger and we're taking on much more of a global presence. So that's probably why you know about us more now and probably before.

Amazing, yeah, that's good to know. I like the Swedish way of working. I worked at NetEnt, they care about their employees so much and the culture is different.

The Scandinavian way of working and the Swedish way of working is built very much on trust which is very good especially in an industry like this. So yeah, I get what you hear.

Yeah. That's great. And how did you enter into iGaming? How's the journey been so far personally?

The journey has been very good so far. I'm super happy to be a part of the industry. I've always wanted to take on more responsibility and I have been wanting to see more women entering fields like the iGaming industry or any other technical industry. And I mean iGaming is one of the most data-driven industries probably that there is.

So I just saw a really good opportunity for myself to become better technically, to learn more and to adapt to this fast-paced industry that there is. So I decided to step into the industry. I was around 6 years ago now.

Oh, wow.

And I'm still going strong.

That's great. And what were you doing before?

Before I worked at a CRM company. They were focusing on other markets, other verticals, but also iGaming. So I started working in other verticals, but then iGaming caught my attention and I realized that it's a fun industry. There's a lot going on, a lot of things that's happening. So I decided to enter the industry and yeah, as I said, I've been here ever since.

That's great. And when we look at this journey of 6 years of you being in the industry, what do you think has changed on a very global level when it comes to the overall industry itself?

On the industry itself, I would say that AI is taking on a lot more presence. You can see it everywhere, which is very understandable. That is definitely the direction to go. But that would be the main thing I see as a big difference. The industry, as I've already mentioned, has always been very fast-paced. But now for the last 6 years when AI has taken over more and more, it becomes a difference.

Yeah. And one of the things you mentioned just previously is being a woman in this industry, right? So, from the time you joined to now, over the course of last 6 years, what is the state of a woman like you who is in a senior role at the moment in a solutions company? Do you think there is still imbalance in pay and opportunity for women in iGaming? What's your opinion?

Yes, there is still imbalance.

Really?

There is. Yes.

If I ask men, they don't say that.

But then you're asking the wrong people. I'll give you the right answer. And yes, there is still imbalance even though I definitely see improvements in the industry over the last years. I do see improvements and I do see that more and more companies are more aware and they are bringing in more women not only as a checkbox, but because the outcome actually becomes better.

You know, I have seen it myself when women is entering the rooms and are being part of dialogues, the discussions, they change and the outcome can change and we need variety, right? And with that being said, yes, there is still imbalance, but we are on the right path and there is still a way to go, but we are definitely on the right path and I'm super happy to see that. I'm super happy to see more women taking on more senior roles, leadership roles, but also technical roles.

Not only is it necessary for the variety, but also again for the outcome, you know?

Yeah.

So, there you go.

Okay, cool. So, you're saying that from 6 years ago to now definitely it has improved and it is going in the right direction.

It is, yes.

And then what do you have to say to people, men and women both, who say that it should be based on the skill, not really based on the gender if someone should get an opportunity or not.

Yes, I agree. I agree, but within women there is skill. So, we need to be able to take a place at the table and then the rest will come naturally.

So, it's more about the recognition of the fact that there is also skill in both the genders.

Absolutely. And that's what I meant by when companies now are more aware and they are actually letting women take more space, it's not about the checkbox. It's not about the gender, it's about the skill. It's about the outcome and that's why you should do it. So, yeah.

Cool. And the other thing that also comes to my mind, especially when we look at iGaming, is relationships. And you're in a head of sales role. So, how is, like you work outside of a little bit outside of iGaming and now you're in iGaming for 6 years. So, how do you see that relationships play a part in iGaming specifically? How important are they?

Relationship is key. It's absolutely important. Then you can look at it from a global perspective. In some industries, the relationship and the trust is maybe more important than in others, but in general, relationships is super important because there needs to be trust in business in order for the partnerships to have a positive outcome. So, I would again, I might repeat myself, but I can't say it enough that relationships are key.

Yeah. Because, you know, if we look at American industry in general, like tech and SaaS, it's all probably not based on relationships. They just pay, they use, and it's totally a different way. But when it comes to iGaming, probably it's the most important thing in sales because right now I'm on my own, independent, this podcast and consulting, whatever.

And you know, in the beginning, it's like I had the experience, I had the connections, but still I was not able to close some things. And then I realized it's all about having relationships, knowing the people inside the company.

Yes. No, but it is. It's super important. We agree on that one. Yes.

All right. And let's look at Kubeya as well. If you can give us a little bit more information into what the brand does, what's the focus right now as well.

Absolutely. So, Kubeya is a crypto casino platform provider. But, that's not it. We also have our poker software.

Oh, that's why the Poker Tony sponsorship.

Yes, correct. And now we also have our fully branded original games. So, it started when we had some customers specifically asking for fully branded games. And we went out and we searched around and we realized that there is more or less no one that can offer 100% fully branded games. So, we decided to start our own game studio and develop them ourselves. We right now have 11 games in the catalog and the catalog is increasing. We're super proud of these games.

The loading time is more or less non-existent and there's no iframe when it comes to integration. It is web components that makes the integration completely seamless. So, the focus now here at this conference is to bring more awareness regarding our poker product but also our original games.

Okay, when you say original games, you know, I was having another gentleman here yesterday from another company. Do you think it's similar to what they do as well, because you mentioned there's no other brand that does 100% original games. So, is there a difference between what they do or what you do and when you say 100% original, is it something else that I might not be aware of?

We have similarities, but what we do is something else. One of the things is that I'm not super aware of their product so I can't say too much, but from experience when I have scanned the market and from the people I have spoken with different operators, they say that our games are top class, one of a kind and that's what I'm going for.

That's the similarities, but also some differentiations and...

Okay, yeah.

That's very interesting to know. When it comes to your plans in Latin America, are you focused on Latin America? Which regions, which geos are you focused on the products that you have at the moment?

Yes. So, we at Kubera, we always aim to have a global presence. So, of course Latin America is a very important market for us. So, yes, we do have a focus here, but we don't solely focus on Latin America. We focus on Asia and Europe as well, and even Africa now, which is a very lucrative market. It's getting bigger and bigger.

But yes, of course, we are here and we know the importance of this market and we're doing what we can to build our brand awareness and to make relationships and to make business.

Sounds good. And any other regions you're trying to expand into apart from Brazil in terms of launching new products or targeting new deals in LatAm?

We're trying to target also Ecuador. Which is quite a small place, but a lucrative market, especially for crypto. And we are focusing on crypto casinos mostly. And then we're also looking into Chile, Mexico, different countries, yes.

Okay. Very interesting. Cool. I mean, thank you so much for joining me and sharing your journey as well as sharing more information about Kubera. I see that it's working because, you know, now you're creating the brand awareness and I wish you the very best and hopefully meet you at another event again.

Thank you so much for having me and I wish you all the best as well.

Thank you guys for watching. Please like, subscribe as well as share your thoughts in the comments below wherever you're watching and we'll keep you posted with another show very soon.