Voodoo buys Beach Bum to diversify monetisation from ads to IAPs

Paris-based hypercasual publisher Voodoo has acquired Israeli startup Beach Bum for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2015 by Playtika founder Uri Shahak, Beach Bum focuses on developing mobile versions of traditional tabletop and card games.

Its games such Backgammon - Lord of the Board and Spades Royale reach 2 million MAUs.

Beach Bum says it's generated around $70 million in gross revenues in the past 12 months.

The move is part of Voodoo's strategy shift from hypercasual games to a more diversified portfolio that generates revenue from IAPs rather than advertising as is the case with hypercasual games.

Gaining synergies

It says the Beach Bum deal will "deliver meaningful synergies through the combination of Voodoo’s growth and ad monetization expertise and Beach Bum’s experience in in-app monetization and its proprietary gaming platform".

“Shachar, Keren, and Gili have created a leader in their category, and built a strong, lean and very high performing team. This is exactly the type of company we like to partner with," commented Voodoo CEO Alexandre Yazdi.

"Beach Bum and Voodoo share the same business philosophy and the same unlimited ambition to create a worldwide leading and inspiring mobile gaming company. Being together is a major step towards that direction."