Nine figure funding rounds are becoming commonplace for fast-growing mobile game developers.
But unlike most fast-growing mobile game developers, when Tripledot raised its recent $116 million Series B funding round at a $1.4 billion valuation, it wasn't to blow it all on aggressive UA campaigns.
"We were profitable in year one, tripled our revenue during 2021 and so already had a healthy balance sheet in terms of our UA needs. We raised money for M&A," explained Akin Babayigit, COO of the London-based company, to PocketGamer.biz.
Which brings us to Tripledot's first post-raise acquisition: US gaming hosted streaming platform Live Play Mobile. Again, it's not a typical deal.
Live Play Mobile CEO Stuart Lewis-Smith described the firm as "sit[ting] at the intersection of social mobile games and live streaming and broadcasting".
The friendly face of bingo
Based in San Francisco, with broadcast studios in Los Angeles and London, Live Play Mobile can be considered the Peloton of casual mobile games. With around 30 host presentators, it broadcasts hosted game streams 24/7 to audiences who play along on their phones.
Live since July 2020, its first game is Live Play Bingo.
"It's a massive genre, with a long tail of games, but the leaders are now fairly old products," Lewis-Smith explained. "We felt bingo was well suited to a hosted experience and by doing this we can disrupt the market."
This is where Babayigit expects Tripledot's expertise in data-driven live ops to act as a force multiplier.
"We think there's a massive opportunity to scale Live Play Bingo so it can be played by anyone in the world," he said.
There is future potential for Tripledot's existing or future titles to be plugged into the platform but that's not in the current roadmap: "Live Play Bingo is our first, second, and third priority," Babayigit emphasised.
"When we started the company, we wanted to create a new category of gaming at massive scale. I think joining up with Tripledot will be the fastest and the best way to get there," Lewis-Smith added.
Despite its bespoke nature, Tripledot's acquisition of Live Play Mobile continues the trend of M&A throughout the last three years. You can keep up on all of the latest mobile games deals through the PocketGamer.biz Deals resource.
