Highlights

Playtika reports FQ4 2020 earnings (link)

• FQ4 2020 Results

• • Reported revenue of $574M, representing 17% YoY growth and versus consensus of $555M
  • Reported Adj. EBITDA of $210M (37% margin), representing a 24% YoY growth and versus consensus of $190M
  • Reported net income of $76M (13% margin), representing a 153% YoY growth due primarily to the flow-through impact of increased revenues
  • After giving effect to the proceeds raised in the IPO in January 2021, available liquidity, defined as “Cash and Cash Equivalents” as of December 31, 2020, plus the Company’s undrawn revolving credit facility, is over $1B

• FY 2020 Results

• • Reported revenue of $2,372M, representing a 26% YoY growth and versus consensus of $2,353M
  • Reported Adj. EBITDA of $942M (40% margin), representing a 32% YoY growth and versus consensus of $891M
  • Reported net income of $92M (4% margin), representing a 68% YoY decrease

• Company-Reported Highlights

• • Casual portfolio exceeded $1B in revenue for the first time
  • Bingo Blitz hit its 10-year anniversary with record revenue of $443M, up 38% YoY
  • Solitaire Grand Harvest achieved record revenue of $147M, up 95% YoY
  • June’s Journey achieved record revenue of $168M, up 90% YoY

• FY 2021 Guidance

• • Revenue: $2,440M (versus consensus of $2,420M)
  • Adj. EBITDA: $920M (versus consensus of $884M)

Enad Global 7 reports FQ4 2020 earnings (link)

• Financial Highlights

• • Reported net revenue of $23M, representing a 245% increase YoY
  • Reported Adj. EBITDA of $1M
  • The Company’s cash balance at the end of the period amounted to $129M
  • Reported earnings per share of -$0.14

• Significant Events

• • EG7 completed the acquisition of Big Blue Bubble
  • EG7 entered into an agreement to acquire Canada-based game developer Piranha Games, known for MechWarrior, for ~$25M
  • EG7 completed its acquisition of US- based game developer Daybreak Game Company, known for EverQuest, Lord of the Rings, and Dungeons & Dragons, for ~$300M
  • EG7 raised ~$200M by issuing 20,731,707 shares in a new offering

Roblox plans to list shares on March 10, reports 82% revenue growth to $923M for 2020 (link)

• Roblox, the platform for user-generated games, will go public through a direct listing of its shares on March 10^th
• The Company reported that it lost $253M on revenues of $924M (82% increase YoY) for the year ended December 31^st
• Roblox DAUs rose to 32.6M in 2020 from 17.6M in 2019 and the Roblox Platform has a community of 8M active developers
• Roblox had originally planned for an initial public offering last fall, but it postponed that plan and raised $520M at a valuation of $29.5B

Jerry Bruckheimer joins Skillz board of directors (link)

• Competitive mobile games platform Skillz has added producer Jerry Bruckheimer to its board of directors
• “Skillz puts the excitement and competitive drama of esports into the hands of billions of people around the world” said Bruckheimer
• Bruckheimer previously sat on the board of privately held ZeniMax Media, Bethesda’s parent company

M&A and Capital Raising

Hiro Capital Leads $15M Investments in Snowprint, Double Loop, and Happy Volcano (link)

• London-based Hiro Capital focuses on investing in games, esports, digital fitness, and the metaverse
• The three mobile and cross-platform studios will use Hiro’s investment to expand their development pipelines and accelerate global growth
• Snowprint Studios was founded in 2015 in Sweden and operates their debut mobile title Legend of Solgard and is now also working on an unannounced title and Rivengard, a turn-based tactics game that launched globally on January 21
• Double Loop Games is a San Francisco-based studio preparing to launch its social mobile title, made for players who don’t think of themselves as gamers
• Happy Volcano Games is a Belgium-based studio that launched the critically acclaimed narrative exploration game, The Almost Gone, and are currently working on a new soon-to-launch cross-platform game, You Suck at Parking

Beamable raises $5M for Unity-based live game services platform (link)

• Beamable has raised $5M in funding to fuel its new business of providing a live services platform for game developers
• The round was led by Companyon Ventures and GrandBanks Capital with additional participation from Defy.vc, Oyster Funds, and others
• Beamable equips developers with the technology to help them continuously operate, update, monetize and socialize their games
• Over 20M users have accessed games built on Beamable, resulting in $150M in revenue transacted over the platform

Bebopbee raises $2M to create match-3 casual puzzle games (link)

• BebopBee, a Silicon Valley game studio focused on match-3 puzzle games, has raised $2M in funding from Bitkraft Ventures, 1Up Ventures, IGG, and angel investors
• BebobBee will use the capital to build live operations and a marketing program to acquire more players
• The studio wants to pioneer the next-generation of free-to-play match-3 puzzlers on mobile

IronSource acquires creative management platform Luna Labs (link)

• Mobile monetization firm IronSource has acquired Luna Labs, the maker of a creative management platform used to create mobile ads
• Luna Labs’ technology allows app developers to create, manage and optimize their playable ad and video ads, at a fast speed and on a large scale
• Luna Labs’ SaaS platform enables developers to create ads directly from their game code and then automatically generate unlimited variations of the ads

Netmarble acquires a majority stake in Kung Fu Factory (link)

• Mobile games developer Netmarble is set to acquire a majority stake in WWE: Champions developer Kung Fu Factory
• Through the deal, the indie developer will become a subsidiary of Netmarble US
• Currently, the two companies are working together with the NBA and NBPA on creating NBA Ball Stars

Miniclip makes strategic investment in Green Horse Games (link)

• Through the investment, Miniclip has become the majority stakeholder of the Romanian studio Green Horse Games
• Green Horse Games is known for its title Football Rivals

Others

Sony announces new PSVR for PlayStation 5 (link)

• Sony announced that PlayStation 5 is getting its own virtual reality system, a successor to PSVR for PlayStation 4
• The Company announced that it will connect to the PS5 with a single cord and will feature improved resolution, tracking, and field of view
• PSVR for PlayStation 4 launched in 2016 and sold over 5M headsets

Esports firm VSPN considering an IPO (link)

• Versus Programming Network (VSPN) is considering going public in an IPO expected to raise sever hundred million dollars
• Shanghai-based VSPN was founded in 2016 and has offices in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Korea and the US
• The company is known for mobile esports tournaments across a range of games, including Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite – known as PUBG Mobile in the West – and Clash Royale
• In October 2020, the esports Company raised $100M in a Series B funding round led by Tencent

Gaming Public Multiples