In 2020 IQONIQ vowed "to become the Number One Fan Engagement Platform for the Sport and Entertainment Industry within the next 3 – 5 years" and signed deals with multiple football clubs. Then they disappeared.
By Philippe Auclair
On 27 July 2020, IQONIQ, "a new fan engagement platform exclusively targeting the world of sports and entertainment", announced that it had received a 100 million euro cash injection from a Luxembourgian entity called Lux Media Investments, in order "to secure the company’s continuous development and global expansion". Given that IQONIQ had already concluded multiple partnership agreements with a number of famous football clubs and sports organisations, it looked as if a major new actor had established itself in the fast-expanding environment of 'fan engagement platforms' – a possible rival-in-the-making for the behemoth of that business, Socios.com, perhaps?
At least superficially, the big idea behind IQONIQ was indistinguishable from the principles on which Socios.com and others had founded their ultra-aggressive approach to this brand new market. Its mission statement, as formulated a few months later in an 'Ask me anything' web session by its founder and CEO, Turkish-born Kazim Atilla, could have been used almost verbatim by any of its competitors.
"The IQONIQ App is a revolutionary fan engagement platform operating in the sports and entertainment industry, and developed by the IQONIQ Group SARL", he said. "The IQONIQ app enables sports clubs, athletes, and entertainers to better monetize and grow the value of their global fragmented fan base and social media assets. IQONIQ provides fans with a rich, rewarding and pe...
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