iAngels Portfolio Company Secures Exit

The global equity crowdfunding sector has registered another successful exit.

Tel Aviv based equity crowdfunder iAngels has announced the exit of one of its portfolio companies. The social gaming platform Big Blue Parrot has been acquired by mobile gaming megalith Playtika, thus becoming the first iAngels campaign to return capital to its investors. This landmark exit takes place less than a year removed from Big Blue Parrot’s initial $2.5m iAngels fundraise.

Big Blue Parrot was founded in 2010 by Gilad Almog, Gal Weizenberg and Daniel Rechter. The company’s $2.5m campaign on iAngels enjoyed participation from Angel investors Gigi Levy, Rami Lipman and Haim Blecher, as well as, of course, a host of private investors. iAngels operates a co-investment model which is not dissimilar in style to that employed by SyndicateRoom in the UK. 27 companies have raised just shy of $9m via the iAngels platform to date, and those 27 companies have collectively on-boarded 29 distinguished co-investors as shareholders.

Co-investors Gigi Levy-Weiss and Rami Lipman participated in Big Blue Parrot’s $2.5m round. The former of the two Angels is also an investor in Playtika, and he doubtless had a role to play in bringing about this acquisition. Therein is encapsulated one of the key benefits of the co-investment model; entrepreneurs are able to leverage both the expertise and connections of their Angel investors. There are also clear benefits to the private investor, who is able to piggyback to some extent upon the due diligence and negotiating efforts of whichever co-investor is leading the round. Mr. Levy-Weiss himself weighed in:

“This joint exit is just the tip of the iceberg. The quality of the deal flow and the level of talent in Israel is already on a par with the Silicon Valley and keeps improving every year. Furthermore, the number of corporate and strategic investors competing for Israeli companies is growing rapidly and globally. iAngels’ unique position in the Israeli ecosystem provides our investors with a front row seat in what will be some of the most exciting liquidity events in the next five years.”

Although it’s not exactly clear just how much money has been made by iAngels' investors, both GLOBES and Owler suggest that Big Blue Parrot was acquired for roughly $10m. 

The Big Blue Parrot acquisition is (to our knowledge) the fourth exit that has been produced by the global equity crowdfunding sector. In order of prominence, past examples include OurCrowd’s ReWalk Robotics (IPO), Crowdcube’s E-Car Club (acquisition) and Companisto’s 5 CUPS and some sugar (redemption offer). The level of profit attained by investors has varied case-to-case. Big Blue Parrot now joins this exclusive club – a club which all equity crowdfunding platforms will be hoping to contribute to over the coming years. 

Mor Assia, Founding Partner at iAngels, commented on the success of Big Blue Parrot:

“Co-investing with Israel’s smartest investors means we’re investing in the highest quality entrepreneurs Israel has ever seen. We knew from our first conversations with Big Blue Parrot that the team and platform would make for an attractive acquisition target.”