Azerion, a Schiphol-based digital gaming and adtech company, has reached an agreement with its co-shareholder, Elisa Oyj, to acquire the remaining 49 per cent shares in Finnish game studio, Sulake Oy, known for the social game Habbo Hotel. Back in 2018, the Dutch company purchased a controlling stake of 51 per cent in Sulake Oy and has been helping to drive revenue growth (46 per cent YoY) since then.
Founded by Sampo Karjalainen, Sulake is an online entertainment company focused on virtual worlds and social networking.
Habbo Hotel is still one of the largest social hangouts in the world with a monthly active user base of 800k across 115 countries. The studio also developed the social mobile game Hotel Hideaway, which attracts 840k active players monthly.
According to the Azerion, Sulake’s management and the team of 96 will remain in place, and it will continue to operate from its headquarters in Helsinki.
Umut Akpinar, co-founder and CEO, says, “Sulake has proven to be a great fit for our gaming and adtech platform and Elisa has remained a very loyal and supportive partner over the past years. Together, we re-energised the game studio, which is now a profitable and flourishing business.”
He adds “We have full confidence in the current Sulake team. They are working well to develop a pipeline of new games while continuing to grow their existing games and communities. We support the decisions they are making and are committed to helping them achieve future plans.”
Benefits of acquisition
This acquisition will help the Finnish company to make use of Azerion’s growing ecosystem and will be able to leverage promotions provided via the Azerion network, which continues to grow through acquisitions like Spil Games’ Portal business and Woozworld.
Valtteri Karu, Sulake CEO: “Azerion has been supporting us to grow and develop Habbo and Hotel Hideaway for over two years now so this acquisition feels like a natural continuation of our partnership.”
On top of that, Sulake can expand its global game communities, increase in-game monetisation and strengthen its game development capacity.
Valtteri Karu adds, “With Azerion’s help and support we were able to modernize Habbo and to ensure its future, whilst working as an independent unit having full control over design and development decisions. This year we look forward to adding features and expanding Habbo and Hotel Hideaway. We will also be looking at possibilities to develop new games utilising our current game technology.”
Acquisitions and funding
Other acquisitions include Improve Digital, HiMedia Germany, Zoomin, Collective Media Europe, Widespace, Sellbranch, Sulake, Smeet, Semilo, Adpulse, Adux, and the mobile division of Spil Games.
Last year, Azerion secured €12.5M funding, bringing the total to €72.5M. In 2021, the company plans to explore a potential IPO route to boost growth and platform expansion. The company also witnessed huge growth in the first nine months of 2020 with a revenue of €139M.
Founded in 2014 by two Dutch entrepreneurs – Umut Akpinar and Atilla Aytekin, Azerion develops and operates a safe and reliable online social gaming and entertainment platform for people of all ages to enjoy.
Besides, it also has monetisation features and provides solutions to automate the purchase and sale of digital advertising for media buyers and sellers.
The company employs more than 800 employees across 24 offices.
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