Entrepreneur Sells Gaming Software Firm After Raising Over 7 Million Euros

Karolina Pelc built BeyondPlay from the ground up and sold the company to FanDuel and Flutter Entertainment in under three years. The B2B gaming software firm raised over 7 million euros in funding during that period.

She worked as a dealer at a casino on Leicester Square while attending university. The casino environment taught her lessons about trust, pressure, and human behavior under financial stress, she said. She later applied for numerous corporate positions and received rejections before entering the online gaming sector.

Pelc founded BeyondPlay, she entered a heavily regulated industry where investor confidence and regulatory compliance were critical. The company operated as a remote-first business with team members across multiple countries. She described carrying the combined pressure of investors, regulation, product development, and uncertainty, which brought her close to burnout at times.

The firm completed investment rounds despite the intensive due diligence required in the gaming sector. The acquisition by FanDuel and Flutter Entertainment occurred faster than typical timelines in the industry. Pelc said the experience reduced her self-doubt and validated her ability to build and scale a company.

Pelc has written a book titled HerPlay that will be available from June 9, 2026. She describes the book as focused on resilience, risk, ambition, and what she calls engineered luck. She advises against waiting to feel fully ready before starting and suggests reframing discomfort as a sign of growth rather than evidence of being an imposter.