Omaze's UK Unit Economics: One-Third Charity, One-Third Prizes, One-Third Operations
Matthew Pohlson · 20VC: The Science of Storytelling: Three Steps to Master the Perfect Story | From Near Death Experience to Unicorn Startup: The Untold Story of Omaze with Matt Pohlson · Jun 6, 2025 · at 1:00:08
Matthew Pohlson, CEO of Omaze, reveals the revenue breakdown and unit economics of Omaze's sweepstakes model in the UK.
0:00 / 0:29exact quote · 29.7s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“The best way to think about our business is like a third. So a third goes to VAT and charity. So 16% to VAT, 17% to charity. Spend about a third on prizing. So the house plus the taxes, we cover all the taxes for the winter. We cover all the furniture. We give them 250,000 pounds to move in. And then we have a bunch of surprises like cars and other cash and that kind of stuff. And then a third is marketing and operating expenses.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Matthew Pohlson
Omaze's Subscriber Retention Rates Rival Netflix and Spotify
“It's right up there with the top consumer subscription companies in the world. I mean, it's comparable to Netflix, Spotify.”
Omaze Beat WME, CAA, Airbnb, and Groupon in Celebrity Campaigns
“At one point we were producing 400 celebrity videos a year, you know, and our team, like, figured out that process, was really good at learning from that process. Like, that's why we, like, that's why we were the only ones who did a celebrity that made it. We'…”
Omaze Targets $8B Revenue and Gates Foundation-Level Charitable Impact
“It's not our 10 year vision, but it's our 15 year vision, is Fortune 500 impact number one. The Fortune 500 is right now is eight billion in revenue to be on that list. Impact number one means the number one source of charitable funds in the world outside of g…”
Outlander's Sam Heughan Outgrossed Brad Pitt as Omaze's Top Talent
“Whereas like a guy named Sam Heughan, who's on a show called Outlander, which is a kind of a sci-fi romantic show set in Scotland. He's our highest grossing talent of all time, more than George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Matt Damon, or you name it, because he has…”
Omaze Spent $250K on a McLaren With Only $900K in Cash
“And so I, then I went to our CFO, Nina, and I said, hey, I think we should offer a car. We should go buy a 250,000 dollar McLaren, offer it with just a maze, no talent. Because if we could do that on our own, then we would control our own destiny. We would rea…”