Paris, June 11, 2024
Leading mobile apps and games publisher Voodoo has acquired BeReal for €500m.
BeReal is the social network focused on authenticity and real interactions. Today, the platform has more than 40 million active users and is one of the most popular social platforms in the USA, Japan and France.
The acquisition strengthens Voodoo’s global position while enabling BeReal to accelerate its growth thanks to Voodoo’s expertise and technologies.
Voodoo, a leading mobile apps and games publisher with more than 7 billion downloads worldwide, acquired BeReal, the Gen Z social network dedicated to authenticity. With this transaction, which is valuing BeReal at €500 million, Voodoo further accelerates its diversification into consumer apps.
Together, Voodoo and BeReal will be ideally positioned to deliver on BeReal’s potential and unlock synergies afforded by the platform’s significant global user base. Voodoo intends to further invest in BeReal while providing its expertise in product strategy, growth, and infrastructure.
“BeReal achieved incredible user loyalty and growth, showing there is a universal need to share real, unfiltered experiences with close friends,” said Alexandre Yazdi, Voodoo co-founder and CEO. “We are very excited to bring our teams together and leverage Voodoo’s know-how and differentiated technologies to scale BeReal into the iconic social network for authenticity.”
BeReal, the authentic social network
Founded in 2019, BeReal revolutionized social media by fostering genuine connections. It answered the need by Gen Z to escape the highly curated façade imposed by other platforms and express their true self. Each day, users receive a push notification prompting them to post whatever they are doing within a two-minute window. Photos disappear after 24 hours, and the absence of 'likes' or 'followers' creates a safe space for sharing real moments without social anxiety.
In 2022, BeReal became the #1 social networking app in the Apple’s App Store and was the iPhone ‘App of the Year’ in Apple’s App Store Awards. Following 24 months of initial explosive organic user growth, BeReal’s expansion stabilized while it focused on building out its infrastructure.
Today, BeReal has more than 40 million active users, and is one of the most popular social networks in its three key markets: the USA, Japan and France. These users are highly engaged with the app: half of them use the app at least 6 days a week.
A new growth chapter supported by Voodoo
BeReal is now at an inflection point in its development. By leveraging Voodoo’s platform and expertise, BeReal will now have the opportunity to further innovate around new features and refocus on growth through organic and paid marketing across markets.
Voodoo is uniquely positioned to help BeReal unlock its full potential as a next generation social platform. Voodoo will actively help BeReal accelerate product development and user growth, leaning on a decade of experience in building and growing iconic mobile products such as Helix Jump, Mob Control, Block Jam 3D, and the social network Wizz.
“Voodoo has a proven track record of driving significant growth in mobile apps. Their resources and expertise will help bring BeReal on a sustainable growth path while continuing to deliver on its mission to create an authentic world that keeps you connected with the people you really care about,” said Alexis Barreyat, BeReal founder and CEO.
Aymeric Roffé, currently CEO of Wizz, one of Voodoo's social media apps, will take over as CEO of BeReal and lead the product. Barreyat will remain involved in BeReal in the short term and work hand-in-hand with Roffé and Voodoo’s management team to ensure a smooth integration of BeReal to unlock its true growth potential before going back to building new products.
Integration experience
Voodoo has experience in successfully carrying out complex acquisitions as illustrated by its 2021 purchase, integration, and development of BeachBum, a leading gaming studio in its category in recent years.
J.P. Morgan Securities plc acted as exclusive financial adviser to BeReal’s shareholders on the transaction.
About Voodoo
Founded in 2013, Voodoo is a tech company that creates mobile games and apps with a mission to entertain the world. Gathering 800 employees, 7 billion downloads, and over 150 million active users, Voodoo is the #3 mobile publisher worldwide in terms of downloads after Google and Meta.
About BeReal
Launched in 2019, BeReal is dedicated to authenticity in social media. By encouraging users to share unfiltered moments, BeReal fosters genuine connections and celebrates real life.
For more information
For media inquiries, please contact:
France: Nicolas Grange, ngrange@brunswickgroup.com, +33 6 29 56 20 19
US: Ted Kwong, tkwong@brunswickgroup.com, + 1 (415) 889-0301
Japan: Daisuke Abe, dabe@brunswickgroup.com, +1 (347) 864-0900
