- Following their recent acquisition by hypercasual and hybridcasual games publisher Voodoo, photo-sharing app maker BeReal has laid off around 28 staff members.
- In a LinkedIn post, BeReal COO Romain Salzman stated the company’s intention to focus more on talents based in France and Europe.
The layoffs affected various roles including iOS and Android engineers, backend engineers, QA, and marketing. According to information shared by Salzman, a total of 28 staff members were impacted by the layoffs.
Earlier this year, BeReal had a headcount of 60, as reported by Business Insider.
Addressing the layoffs, Salzman praised the efforts of the affected employees in scaling the app’s user base significantly within a short time frame.
A spokesperson from Voodoo mentioned that the staff reduction was done to facilitate sustainable growth for BeReal.
Acquisition and Future
Voodoo acquired BeReal in a deal worth up to €500 million, with an initial payment of €166 million, according to Sifted.
Prior to the acquisition, BeReal faced uncertainty due to stalled growth, with funding expected to run out. Voodoo intervened with plans to invest further in the app’s development and growth.
BeReal’s CEO Alexis Barreyat has been replaced by Aymeric Roffé, CEO of Wizz, another social media app owned by Voodoo.
User Base
Voodoo stated that BeReal boasts over 40 million active users, with a significant portion engaging with the app on a daily basis. Sources indicated that the app previously had 25 million daily active users and 40 million monthly active users.
At the time of the acquisition, Appfigures data showed total downloads of the app to be 109 million.
