You're reading: US Blackstone buying Ukrainian social casino developer Murka

The U.S. firm Blackstone Group LP is preparing for the acquisition of two related Ukrainian-U.S. developers of social and mobile gaming – Murka Ltd. and Murka Entertainment Ltd., the press service of the company reported on March 18.

The press service said that Blackstone Group notified the Commission for the Protection of Competition of Cyprus on March 8, 2019 that Tribe Cyprus Bidco Ltd., a special purpose vehicle, will be created to finalize the agreement.

Social casinos are legal, but it’s impossible to convert virtual money earned with them into cash. That’s why such games are widely available on social media like Facebook and in app stores.

There are two ways how developers of such games can earn money: through ads shown inside their apps or through selling additional content.

The volume of the global social casino market in 2018 brought developers from $3.2 billion in total to $3.46 billion only on mobile platforms, according to Ukrainian online tech publication AIN.ua, referring to various sources.

Today Murka has over 100 employees, who work in Kyiv, Dnipro and Lviv. One of the company’s main investors is Noosphere, a non-governmental non-commercial organization founded by Max Polyakov.

Murka company was established in 2011. It has developed social casinos like Slots Journey, Slots Journey 2, TX Poker, S & H Casino, Vegas Slots, Royal Fortune Slots, Bubbla Cadabra, Scatter Slots, and others. The company has nearly 5 million users per month on different platforms.

According to a recent AppAnnie report, Murka is one of the fastest growing companies in the CIS and ranks second among mobile game developers by revenue.