Voodoo acquires BeReal for €500M as photo-sharing app’s popularity declines

BeReal, an app renowned for its brief photo-sharing window, has been bought out. On Tuesday, Voodoo, a French app developer, announced its acquisition of BeReal for €500 million ($537.23 million).

Created by French developers Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau in 2020, BeReal gained popularity in 2022 as more users engaged in its unique, daily photo-sharing feature. However, enthusiasm for BeReal seriously waned.

I’m thrilled to announce that @BeReal_App is now part of @VoodooPlatform.@BeReal_App is the most successful social app launched in nearly a decade.
They have created a unique behavior: sharing authentic content with true friends, and a visionary app, where every user is an… pic.twitter.com/I2KkM4NWPN

— Alexandre Yazdi (@YazdiAlexandre) June 11, 2024

In a statement, Voodoo co-founder Alexandre Yazdi said the company was “thrilled” that BeReal was part of the family, as it had “revolutionized social media by encouraging people to share real, unfiltered experiences with close friends.

“BeReal achieved incredible user loyalty and growth, showing there is a universal need to share real, unfiltered experiences with close friends,” said Yazdi. “We are very 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.”

BeReal achieved incredible success, with 53 million downloads in October 2022, according to research from Sensor Tower. However, its daily active users significantly declined, with Vogue claiming that it dropped from 20 million in October 2022 to 6 million by March 2023.

As a result, the app has been introducing new features to maintain its relevance, such as private groups and an additional daily “bonus” BeReal, allowing users to post more than once a day, which somewhat contradicts the app’s original intention. It went further in February by launching the RealPeople feed, which highlights content from celebrities and brands.

Voodoo, on the other hand, is a mobile apps and games publisher with more than seven billion downloads worldwide that is currently attempting to diversify its products. The company says it aims to use its expertise in developing and expanding mobile products, as demonstrated by successful titles such as Helix Jump, Mob Control, Block Jam 3D, and Wizz.

Consequently, BeReal founder and CEO, Barreyat, will be stepping down. Aymeric Roffé, currently the CEO of the Voodoo-owned social app Wizz, will take over his role.

Featured image: Voodoo

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