BeReal sells for €500 million

BeReal, a French once-a-day photo sharing app, today announced that it is being acquired. The new owner, Voodoo, is a French "hyper-casual and casual" app and games company that "has over 7 billion downloads and entertains over 150 million people per month."

In a blog post announcing the sale, Voodoo described BeReal as:

the social network focused on authenticity and real interactions. Today, the platform has more than 40 million active users and is one of the most popular social platforms in the USA, Japan and France.

Together, Voodoo and BeReal will be ideally positioned to deliver on BeReal’s potential and unlock synergies afforded by the platform’s significant global user base. Voodoo intends to further invest in BeReal while providing its expertise in product strategy, growth, and infrastructure.

Back in March of this year it was reported by Business Insider that growth of the app had "stalled":

Leaders of BeReal are now weighing their options as continued growth proves difficult, the people familiar said. The company is considering raising a Series C before what's left of its $90 million in funding runs out. It faces what is said to be relatively tepid investor interest or being acquired, the people familiar told Business Insider.

BeReal's users stand at about 25 million daily active users and 40 million monthly active users, according to all three people familiar, who are also privy to internal metrics. The company did not respond to emails seeking comment.

While those numbers show some growth since 2022, when the app said it had 20 million DAUs, it is the same size user base BeReal said it had last year. In addition to the app's core features, the company has added new features in a bid to increase user numbers in recent months, like official accounts, groups, messaging, and the ability to add video, which has driven up some usage rates. Such features have yet to meaningfully move the growth needle.

It'll be interesting to see whether Voodoo has fresh ideas for monetisation, or whether BeReal will be forced to chase higher daily usage. This will be a challenge considering the fundamentally limited original concept of posting, and therefore having users access the app once per day. Already the app has supplemented user content with posts from brands and celebrities, but Voodoo will likely be keen to earn back its €500 million sooner rather than later.