GBL acquires minority stake in mobile games unicorn Voodoo at €266 million

GBL acquires minority stake in mobile games unicorn Voodoo at €266 million

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) has acquired a minority stake in Parisian hypercasual mobile games developer Voodoo. Valued at €1.7 billion, GBL’s €266 million investment will represent a 16% stake in the company.

GBL now joins existing shareholders Goldman Sachs, who sank $200 million into the company in 2018, and Tencent who invested just shy of a year ago for an undisclosed sum, but is credited as “a significant” minority shareholder.

Founded in 2013 by Alexandre Yazdi and Laurent Ritter, Voodoo titles have amassed over 5 billion downloads and count approximately 300 million monthly users.

It should be noted that Voodoo operates in the hypercasual gaming sector, meaning games that are easy to learn and last no longer than a few minutes. In contrast, casual games refer to titles that can run a bit longer in duration, Candy Crush, for example. However, this investment could be a signal of intent to move upmarket.

Voodoo CEO Alexandre Yazdi commented, “This investment will fuel our product expansion towards gaming and more broadly, entertainment apps, while solidifying our technological infrastructure to support this growth.”

The transaction is expected to close in Q3 of this year.

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