Voodoo, a French startup, has acquired a substantial share of the casual mobile gaming market. Beach Bum is being acquired by the company. This Israeli-based game studio specializes in card and tabletop games.
Voodoo offers both shares and cash, and some retainer bonuses. It is difficult to determine the exact amount for this acquisition. Voodoo could pay a few hundred million dollars to all of them, according to one source. Beach Bum's revenue has reached $70 million over the past twelve months. This gives you an idea about the magnitude of the deal.
Voodoo's hyper-casual games like Helix Jump and Crowd City, Hole.io, Paper.io 2 and Hole.io 2 are what make it stand out. It is both a publisher and a game developer. It has partnered with other game studios to build a tech stack that optimizes distribution, average revenue per customer, and more.
Tencent and Goldman Sachs have provided funding to the company. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert recently invested 266 million (or $309 million at the current exchange rate) into Voodoo. The company is valued at nearly $2 billion, or 1.7 billion.
Voodoo did not waste time and began looking for acquisition targets to expand its growth potential after raising new capital. Voodoo currently has 350 employees. Voodoo will soon have 150 employees at Beach Bum.
Voodoo has acquired a few casual games and is now expanding into a new market segment. Beach Bum currently offers three games in the AppStore Backgammon (Lord on the Board), Spades Royale, and Gin Rummy Stars.
It is also quite different in terms of the business model. Voodoo relied heavily on advertising to make its games monetizable in the past. Beach Bum instead focuses on in app purchases. The acquisition diversifies Voodoo's revenue sources.
Two more games are currently in development at Beach Bum. Voodoo intends to use Beach Bum for in-app purchases. Gigi Levy Weiss explained to me that they want Beach Bum's games to be as wide as possible.
Gigi Levy Weiss, a general partner in VC firm NFX, co-founded Beach Bum in 2015. While he doesn't have any operational roles at the gaming company, Gigi Levy-Weiss is an active chairman of its board.
In the last few years, Israel's gaming industry has seen a significant increase. It currently has 400 companies. It has seen very few exits, mostly by Asian and European buyers. Avihai Michaeli, an investment banker in Tel Aviv, said that a Playtika, an Israeli gaming company, was IPOed on Nasdaq a few months back for $11B.
