Voodoo, the French app publisher behind mobile games like “Helix Jump” and “Crowd City” has purchased social network BeReal for $537 million. Paris-based BeReal was launched in 2020, focusing on “authentic interactions,” but didn’t gain widespread popularity until 2022 when it captured the imagination of Gen Z. According to Voodoo, the platform now has more than 40 million active users, largely concentrated in the U.S., Japan and France. The new owner says it will invest in BeReal and plans to “accelerate its growth” using Voodoo’s “expertise and technologies,” adding that the acquisition “accelerates its diversification into consumer apps.”

Founded in 2013, Voodoo is a privately held firm that publishes free, hyper-casual titles it claims have been downloaded “more than 7 billion downloads worldwide.” It was valued at $1.4 billion in 2020, when Tencent acquired a minority stake.

“BeReal achieved incredible user loyalty and growth, showing there is a universal need to share real, unfiltered experiences with close friends,” Voodoo co-founder and CEO Alexandre Yazdi said in an announcement, adding that he is “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.”

Aymeric Roffé, currently CEO of Voodoo’s social app Wizz, segues to CEO of BeReal, whose founder and CEO Alexis Barreyat “will remain involved” in the short term, working to ensure a smooth transition “before going back to building new products,” the Voodoo announcement explains.

BeReal “promotes ‘spontaneous authenticity’ by prompting users to capture dual-camera pictures (a selfie and whatever the rear camera is aimed at) during two-minute windows at random times throughout the day,” Engadget reports of the platform’s premise, noting “younger users (especially) appreciated its less choreographed content,” which did not allow filters or include ads.

Engadget says BeReal “has fallen off the radar since its much-hyped peak” in 2022, “partially thanks to Instagram and TikTok cloning its gimmick while it was still hot.” It notes that Voodoo claims it has 40 million global “active” users, not “daily active users,” but writes that “its user base is growing more than you might expect,” since the 40 million figure “is double the 20 million daily active users BeReal claimed in April 2023.”

TechCrunch writes that despite its run of attention and success, the company was struggling to grow “and was looking for a buyer as it was running out of funding.” In Voodoo, co-founders Barreyat and Kevin Perreau found an enthusiastic new owner with resources. Statista reports Voodoo was No. 8 in global downloads among Google Play gaming app publishers for March.