COPENHAGEN (JUNE 27, 2022) - SYBO announced today that it has been acquired by Miniclip, a world leader of market-defining mobile games. The acquisition is set to complete this July following the legacy game’s 10th anniversary and a record-breaking banner year across daily installs, daily active users and daily revenues. The combined companies reach over 70m daily active users.
"We are so thankful for the vision, expertise and execution from Mathias and the whole SYBO Team, who have strengthened Subway Surfers both creatively and commercially during this past decade," said SYBO’s co-founder, Sylvester Rishøj Jensen. “Subway Surfers has continued to be a successful mobile game for millions of fans worldwide, year after year."
“When we started this 10 years ago, our dream was to create something special that would be loved for generations to come. The whole company, and our incredible fans, have driven the game to stellar heights. We have really had perfect flow in our partnership and gaming adventure, which has now culminated in what is one of the biggest – if not the biggest – deals in Danish gaming history. It’s a legacy we are both very proud of,” said SYBO’s co-founder Bodie Jahn-Mulliner.
SYBO Chief Executive Officer, Mathias Gredal Nørvig, said, "We are incredibly thankful to our Founders for their vision and trust. 15 years after Sylvester and Bodie started working together, 10 years after Subway Surfers came to market and 5 years after I took the helm as CEO, we now wrap up the first season of SYBO’s journey with a great promise of what’s to come.
“Miniclip brings to SYBO added experience, reach and strength as we celebrate our tenth anniversary and look to the next decade and beyond. I am so proud! Proud of our game development teams, all support functions, and management team, for passionately expanding the Subway Surfers game experience, remaining committed to the formula our community loves, and to continue delivering surprise and delight for Subway Surfers fans on multiple platforms and genres. Miniclip offers us an opportunity to further grow and amplify, while still keeping to our core values and Team culture."
"Since its launch in May 2012, the Subway Surfers mobile game has grown to more than 150 million monthly active players, it holds the title as the most downloaded mobile game, it was the world’s first game to cross one billion downloads on Google Play, and the most downloaded endless runner game in Apple's App Store's history”, said Saad Choudri, Miniclip’s CEO. "Miniclip has always had a strong focus on building high quality games that unleash the gamer in everyone, which has helped define the business and allowed us to lead in a crowded marketplace, delivering consistent growth through building our M&A with fantastic and innovative new partners. Which is why the SYBO Team felt like such a natural fit, having developed one of the world’s most popular games. They have a proven record of delivering and maintaining an incredible gamer experience, as well as continuing to grow virally. We are beyond excited to welcome them into the Miniclip family as we empower them to keep running and running!"
Under Gredal Nørvig’s leadership, a team of savvy and experienced executives has navigated an industry of opportunities and challenges. The company plans to keep the current Management Team in place with David Byrne, who joined in 2018 as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Games; Naz Amarchi-Cuevas, who joined in 2017 as Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Marketing; Anne Schnack Hansen, who joined in 2018 as Chief People Officer; and Andreas Glenvig, who joined in 2019 as Finance Director.
Miniclip has released some of the world’s most downloaded games. Founded in 2001, the Company has successfully grown a huge global audience in over 195 countries and across six continents, with more than 60 games in its growing portfolio, leading to the studio exceeding three billion downloads by the end of June 2020, before reaching four billion downloads in Q1 2022. SYBO is among the latest game developer acquisitions, following the recent acquisitions of Supersonic Software (One Clue Crossword and Picture Cross) and Eight Pixels Square (Sniper Strike: Special Ops).
The Raine Group served as the exclusive advisor to SYBO in its sale to Miniclip. And Bech Bruun acted as legal and tax counsel to SYBO.
Moalem Weitemeyer served as Legal advisors to Miniclip.
***
About SYBO:
SYBO is a Danish mobile games developer founded in 2010, known for the massive mobile hit Subway Surfers. Danish animation school graduates Sylvester Rishøj Jensen and Bodie Jahn-Mulliner founded SYBO in 2010 after winning first prize for best animation movie in 2009. Their short film gave birth to Subway Surfers, which they further co-developed with Kiloo, a Danish games publisher. Today, the game studio is entirely self-published by SYBO and continues to develop regular updates for Subway Surfers.
Subway Surfers launched on the Apple Store in May 2012 and quickly rocketed to the top of the charts. One week after its release in the App Store, Subway Surfers was the number one downloaded game in 20 countries and soon after that, the number one in 50 countries, including the United States. In September 2015, three years after its debut, Subway Surfers reached the coveted milestone - one billion downloads worldwide. Subway Surfers topped 2019's most downloaded mobile game globally, and today, Subway Surfers has had more than three billion downloads. To find out more, please visit www.sybo.com.
About Miniclip:
Miniclip is a global leader in digital games with a mission of ‘unleashing the gamer in everyone’. The Company develops, publishes and distributes highly engaging games to an audience of over 250 million monthly active users across mobile, social and online platforms. They operate in eight countries, with a global workforce of over 900 people across 13 locations.Founded in 2001, the Company has successfully grown a huge global audience in over 195 countries and across six continents. Miniclip has a unique understanding of the digital games space and has developed a strong portfolio of over 60 high-quality mobile games, extensive worldwide distribution, and an internationally recognised brand name. To date, Miniclip's digital games, which include the franchises 8 Ball Pool™, Golf Battle™, Football Strike™, Carrom Pool™, and Agar.io™ have generated more than 4 billion downloads. Miniclip has more than 45 million daily active players reaching people across the world in the pursuit of ‘unleashing the gamer in everyone’. In February 2015, Miniclip was excited to receive a large majority investment from Tencent, one of the world’s largest technology companies and the world’s largest games publisher. This new chapter in Miniclip’s history strengthens the Company’s position, with Tencent recognising its achievements to date and future potential.In the past three years, as part of their ambitious growth plans, Miniclip have been delighted to welcome the teams from Playsport (famous for Motorsport Manager), Yakuto (creators of Darts of Fury), Masomo (home of Head Ball 2), Ilyon (designers of Bubble Shooter), Eight Pixels Square (Sniper Strike) operating as Miniclip Derby, Gamebasics (creators of OSM Online Soccer Manager) now operating as Miniclip Netherlands, Green Horse Games (home of Football Rivals), and most recently Supersonic Software Ltd., trading as Puzzling.com (the team behind the highly successful Puzzle Page and Picture Cross) to the Miniclip Group.
About Raine Group:
The Raine Group is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on technology, media, and telecommunications. The Firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Paris and Shanghai. With a global reach, Raine focuses on investment and advisory opportunities where its deep industry experience and unique network of strategic relationships can create value for portfolio companies and clients. For more information, visit www.raine.com
About Bech Bruun:
Bech-Bruun is one of Denmark’s largest law firms and is highly specialized in advising on and structuring complex deals. In addition to regularly advising on M&A and tax structuring, the firm acts as a trusted advisor to both shareholders and management of a large number of exciting Danish and international companies. The firm has offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus.
About Moalem Weitemeyer:
Moalem Weitemeyer is a leading Danish corporate law firm advising corporations, financial institutions and financial sponsors in Denmark and abroad.
PRESS CONTACTS:
James Wright for Miniclip
James.wright@alfredlondon.com
Sarah Gumina for SYBO
Sarah@GennComm.com