EasyWin has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation, with backing from a private investor based in the European Union.
The Poland-based real-money gaming startup, incorporated in the U.S., closed its first seed round in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. That round was led by Velo Partners through its Angel Fund, with additional backing from Vladimir Nikolsky, the former CEO of My.Games, and a group of private angel investors. The second round represents a 29% valuation increase in approximately five months.
Platform and Metrics
EasyWin operates a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes. Founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment, the company runs on a team of eight. Its operational model is built around extensive use of AI development tools, which the company says drives what it describes as industry-leading revenue per employee.
Since launching in 2025, EasyWin has reached 35,000 daily active users, a 55% D30 payer retention rate, and an annualised GMV run rate of $30 million. The U.S. is the company’s strongest market in both volume and revenue, with Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK among the other high-performing territories. The platform is live in 12 countries, each with localised legal opinions and payment infrastructure in place.
On compliance, EasyWin secured GLI certification from an independent testing agency, confirming its skill-based gaming products meet U.S. regulatory requirements for the segment. It also received PayPal approval for its Merchant Category Code (MCC) and completed full integration of its payments stack with major global providers. A factoring contract has been secured alongside the equity funding to provide additional working capital for expansion.
“In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform,” said Ivan Leshkevich, founder of EasyWin. “To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
Regulatory Positioning
EasyWin operates in the skill-based gaming segment, which carries a distinct regulatory classification from chance-based gambling across most U.S. jurisdictions. The company has been deliberate in positioning compliance as a structural advantage rather than an overhead cost. Leshkevich has stated that EasyWin is built to adapt to local frameworks as they evolve rather than exploit regulatory gaps, and that the company treats regulation as a constant to manage proactively.
The real-money gaming ban in India served as an external reference point for that risk. EasyWin was not active in India, but the episode reinforced the rationale behind its market-by-market legal structuring. Each of its 12 active markets carries a localised legal opinion rather than a blanket approach to classification.
For 2026, Leshkevich has outlined a scaling push across regulated markets, new puzzle titles and tournament formats, and the implementation of two-step KYC incorporating both ID verification and live photo or selfie confirmation. The upgrade is framed as a fraud reduction measure and an AML compliance step. Team growth is planned but described as careful, with the lean eight-person structure maintained as a deliberate operational advantage.
Investment Context
EasyWin’s raise comes during a sustained period of investment activity across the gaming sector. Midnite secured a £100m finance deal in October 2025 targeting tier-one operator status in regulated markets. At the larger end of the spectrum, Allwyn International acquired a majority stake in PrizePicks for $2.5 billion, a transaction that underlined institutional appetite for skill-based and alternative gaming formats beyond traditional betting. Soft2bet reported 85% revenue growth for full-year 2025 and set out an expansion programme reflecting the continued growth dynamic across emerging B2C gaming segments.
The EU-based backer in this second round has not been publicly identified. Cross-border capital flows into gaming technology companies have remained active, with European investors drawn to segments that sit outside traditional sports betting and casino verticals.
With GLI certification secured, a multi-market payments infrastructure in place, and a factoring contract providing working capital headroom, EasyWin enters its scaling phase with more structural runway than most early-stage operators at the same valuation point. Whether the $30 million annualised GMV run rate and 55% D30 payer retention hold as the platform moves into more contested markets and a larger content slate will define the next funding cycle.
Source: EasyWin
