Crypto billionaires Edward Craven and Bijan Tehrani secure ‘Stake’ in Formula One team Sauber
Stake.com founders Edward Craven and Bijan Tehrani have become one of the handful of Australian-based businessmen to own a Formula One racing team.
Cryptocurrency and gambling billionaire Edward Craven is betting on Formula One, joining a handful of Australians to co-own one of the motorsport’s teams following the departure of Alfa Romeo.
The former Alfa Romeo team, also known as Sauber, will be rebranded as Stake F1 Team after Mr Craven’s empire, which he co-founded with American-born Bijan Tehrani in 2017, gained exclusive naming rights for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
But it is more than just a sponsorship deal, with all racing teams in Formula One responsible for building their own cars. Crucially, the sport’s rules require teams be named after the manufacturers which built their chassis or engines. This means Stake has effectively entered the business of making F1 cars.
Under the deal, Stake’s live streaming platform Kick.com – which Mr Craven launched in Melbourne in 2022 – will have the naming rights to the chassis, which will be known as Kick Sauber C44. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will continue as the team’s drivers.
Mr Craven is Australia’s youngest billionaire; the 28-year-old – who made headlines 18 months ago when he bought two Toorak mansions in Melbourne for almost $40m and then about $80m – said the deal aimed to capitalise on Formula One’s growing fan base.
“Fuelled by deep passion for speed, innovation, and pushing boundaries, we are now ideally positioned to take the team to unprecedented heights from 2024 and beyond,” he said.
“The upcoming years will be a thrilling ride with some mind-blowing activations planned that will redefine excitement on and off the track.”
Mr Tehrani – who is an Australian resident based in Melbourne – bought a mansion of his own last year – a Manhattan townhouse formerly owned by late banking titan David Rockefeller, for $US47m ($69m).
Mr Craven and Mr Tehrani’s empire takes an average $US400m each day via its online casino and global sports betting business.
The pair are based in Melbourne, although Stake.com is domiciled in Curacao as gambling using cryptocurrency via online casinos is banned in Australia.
Last July the company applied for a bookmaking licence in the Northern Territory. If it’s successful, it would mean it would become a mainstream operator competing with established online corporate bookmakers such as Sportsbet, PointsBet and Entain’s Ladbrokes and Neds, as well as the ASX-listed Tabcorp.
Mr Craven and Mr Tehrani have registered a company name, Stake Gaming Pty Ltd, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission – the first time the duo has made a move to use their Stake brand locally. Stake Gaming is jointly owned by Mr Tehrani and a company ultimately owned by Mr Craven.
The pair have been on a rollercoaster ride, recently avoiding a $580m claim against their company by a former business partner after a US court threw out the claim due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Mr Tehrani said Kick – which competes with Amazon-owned Twitch – had experienced “tremendous growth” since its inception and he expected the Formula One partnership to further bolster the platform’s trajectory.
“We are thrilled to take our collaboration to an unparalleled magnitude, backed by our knowledge of the motorsport culture, and our passion for cutting-edge technology,” he said. Exceptionally, this universally popular sport, aligns perfectly with our product and what we are building at Kick.com.”
Stake struck a sponsorship agreement with Sauber last year before elevating that deal to the Swiss team’s owner, following the departure of Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo had Sauber’s naming rights from 2019 to 2023. It finished ninth – second last – in the F1 Constructiors Championship last year.
Mr Craven joins Paul Stoddart – who owned the former Minardi team before selling it to Red Bull in 2006 – and the late Jack Brabham as one of the few Australians to own a F1 team.
Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi said the Stake partnership would not only benefit the team but the entire F1 sport.
“Stake not only successfully tapped into Formula One’s growing fan base to enhance its own community, but also introduced a completely new audience to the sport, something that benefited not only our team but also everyone else in F1,” Mr Alunni Bravi said.
“We had the opportunity to participate in some incredible activations with some of Stake’s ambassadors, including Argentine football legend Sergio Aguero and Indian-Canadian rapper Karan Aujla. 2024 will be a new page and the chance to do more, better, and reach even farther: we are looking forward to an even more exciting calendar of events in this new season.”
Canadian hip-hop superstar Drake has a lucrative endorsement deal with Stake – and launched the F1 deal on New Year’s Day. The company also sponsors English soccer club Everton.
Stake chief marketing officer Akhil Sarin said: “The past season has been a testament to the marketing and media value that Stake has brought to the F1 team, especially within the digital landscape.
“The first phase of this partnership has succeeded in increasing global brand awareness for all stakeholders. At Stake, we are prepared to take the team’s reach, fanbase and visibility to unprecedented levels.”
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