Lolapps

Lolapps emerged in 2007 as a developer and publisher of social games, primarily for the Facebook platform. The company was established by Brian Rue, Kamo Asatryan, Annie Chang, and Kavin Stewart. Their initial creations, such as "Quiz Creator" and "Gift Creator," allowed users to generate and share their own content, which fueled early growth. This initial success attracted a Series A funding round of $4 million from Polaris Partners and Western Technology Investment in September 2008.

A significant turning point occurred in 2009 with the acquisition of Roflplay, a social gaming company founded by Arjun Sethi. Following the acquisition, Sethi, an entrepreneur who later co-founded Tribe Capital, became the CEO of Lolapps. Under his leadership, the company's user base expanded dramatically, reaching 100 million users by 2010. A pivotal product for Lolapps was "Ravenwood Fair," a game developed with the involvement of notable game designers Brenda and John Romero, which amassed 25 million players globally. The business model focused on the free-to-play approach, with revenue generated through in-game purchases and monetization strategies common in the social gaming market.

In July 2011, Lolapps merged with the Hong Kong-based social games publisher 6waves to form 6waves Lolapps. This strategic combination created a social gaming powerhouse, second only to Zynga on Facebook at the time, with a combined 35 million monthly active users. The merger provided Lolapps' development capabilities with 6waves' international publishing and distribution network. The new entity received a substantial $35 million investment from South Korean video game publisher Nexon. However, the integration faced challenges. In March 2012, 6waves Lolapps laid off its development team, which largely consisted of former Lolapps employees, to pivot its focus entirely to publishing. Shortly after, the "Lolapps" name was dropped, and the company rebranded as 6waves. The journey of the entity that absorbed Lolapps continued until January 2022, when Stillfront Group acquired 6waves for $201 million.

Keywords: social gaming, Facebook games, Ravenwood Fair, Arjun Sethi, Brian Rue, 6waves, social game developer, free-to-play, in-game purchases, online gaming, casual games, Quiz Creator, Roflplay, Polaris Partners, Nexon, John Romero, Brenda Romero, social applications, virtual goods, game publishing