The Israeli gaming company Beach Bum is being sold for half a billion dollars

The Israeli gaming company Beach Bum is being sold for half a billion dollars to the French hyper-casual gaming company VOODOO, Calcalist has learned. In the first phase, shareholders will receive $ 300 million, and later an additional $ 200 million subject to meeting targets. The company employs 150 people in its offices in Raanana.
Beach Bum, whose mobile games are based on popular board games like backgammon that have adapted to the digital world, has barely raised outside capital since its inception in 2015. In the first round, held in 2016, it raised only $ 3 million, and has not announced any further fundraising since. According to estimates, there were additional investments in the company, but on a small scale.
The company was founded by Gigi Levy and Uri Shachak, two of the founders of Playtica who retired from the company. Levy is one of the major shareholders in the sold company, which is arranging another impressive exit beyond the issuance of Playtica earlier this year, at a value of $ 11 billion. Levy also serves as the company's active chairman, while Shahak is a member of the board. Other founders are the company's CEO Shahar Shatzka, Keren Marom, who serves as VP of operations, and Gil Levy. The other shareholders in Beach Bum The sale is Haim Saban's investment fund, Shelly Hod Moyal and Moore Asia's IANGELS investment platform and the Israeli venture capital fund 83NORTH.
Beach Bum has generated $ 70 million in revenue in the last 12 months, and has more than 2 million active users a month. Its most popular games, LORD OF THE BOARD and SPADES ROYALE, are among the top 25 "evergreen" games in terms of revenue.
The French buyer is a gaming company that was established in 2013, and is estimated to have revenues of about $ 400 million in 2020. The company is privately owned by its two founders, members of the high school classroom, and has received investments from Goldman Sachs Investment Bank and Chinese technology giant Tencent. VOODOO's latest round of funding was valued at $ 1.7 billion. The company has more than 100 free games, and its number of downloads has recently exceeded 5 billion. Its most popular game is HELIX JUMP.
The acquisition of Beach Bum is not VOODOO's first deal in Israel. Last June, it made a small acquisition of BIDSHAKE, a platform for marketing and distributing games from Tel Aviv.