French gaming company Vodoo has acquired Israeli gaming company Beach Bum for an estimated $250-300 million, sources close to the deal have told "Globes." Beach Bum was founded by Gigi Levy-Weiss and Uri Shahak, who previously founded Israeli gaming company Playtika (Nasdaq: PLTK).
Beach Bum, which has developed digital board games backgammon, rummy and spades, is based in Ra'anana and had grown rapidly under the media radar in recent years, and gained millions of loyal users who have been able to play their 'real world' favorite games on their mobile phones.
Voodoo is a leading French mobile gaming company with a valuation of $1.4 billion, and whose shareholders include Tencent and Goldman Sachs.
Beach Bum lets users open their app and find partners to play against in real time. The app became especially popular during the Covid pandemic when millions of people were socially isolated at home in lockdown but using Beach Bum were able to find partners to play their favorite games. The company will soon launch a product which will take the experience in the world of video, making it possible to play backgammon or rummy against partners using video programs such as Zoom.
Beach Bum was founded in 2015 by chairman Gigi Levy-Weiss and Uri Shahak who left the company several years ago. Three more executives who subsequently joined the company have been given founder status - CEO Shachar Schalka, VP marketing Keren Marom and backgammon sector director Gili Levy. Beach Bum has more than 100 employees. The company has raised just $14 million from Saban Ventures and North83.
Revenue over the past year has totalled $70 million, meaning that the exit has been for three to four times annual revenue, which is par for the course in the gaming industry.
Voodoo was represented in the deal by Advs. Yaniv Aronowich, Tamar Krongrad, Boaz Feinberg and Nadav Buchbletter from Tadmor Levy & Co.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 30, 2021
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