The company that created the popular Talking Tom app, Outfit 7 investments Ltd or Outfit7 for short was acquired by a group of Asian Investors for $1 billion after 100% of shares were sold in the deal. The investors were represented by United Lock Group Holdings Ltd.
Iza and Samo Login founded Outfit 7 in the year 2009. At that time the company did not raise any external capital and was completely bootstrapped. Down the line, the company would receive operational funding from Slovenia's top search engine, Najdi.si. The acquisition made history as it is reported to be the largest ever sale of a Slovenian company, public or private.
The company employs people in Slovenia, UK, China, and Cyprus. These employees along with founders Iza and Samo will continue to work for Outfit7 and expand the Talking Top and Friends brand.
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What is Talking Tom?
Talking Tom was the first app released by Outfit7 in 2009. Officially known as the Talking Tom Cat app, the app features an animated cat called Tom. Tom interacts with users by reacting to being pet and fed. The most popular feature of the app was that Tom would repeat anything a user said in a high-pitched voice. The app was extremely popular and helped start the Talking Tom and Friends Franchise.
About Talking Tom and Friends
The Talking Tom and Friends franchise expanded on the popularity of Tom and introduced additional anthropomorphic animals like Tom's girlfriend Angela, a kitten named Ginger, a dog called Ben among others. The franchise had achieved over 12 billion downloads as of March 2020. Along with the apps, Outfit7 also creates web series based on these characters that are shared via YouTube. The company's latest success story is My Talking Hank which has garnered over 50 million downloads. Outfit7 has received many accolades for its work, including Best Animated Series at the 2016 Cablefax Program Awards, the Tillywig Toy & Media Aware among others.
What is a Unicorn company?
The term Unicorn was first used in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee. It is used to describe a privately held start-up company that is valued at over $1 billion. Like the mythical beasts, they are named after these types of ventures are extremely rare. With the value of the acquisition, Outfit7 joins the list of rare Unicorn start-ups.
Besides free mobile applications, the company develops games, a CGI animated series and web shorts, a global licensing and merchandising program, and chart-topping YouTube videos. Talking Tom and Friends franchise is known and downloaded in 230 territories around the world.
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Featured image: Outfit7, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons