Casual game developer Everybuddy enters bankruptcy after accumulating over $4 million in debt
Casual game developer Everybuddy enters bankruptcy after accumulating over $4 million in debt
The Tel Aviv District Court appointed the company a trustee to examine proposals for the sale of the company or its assets. The Israeli startup, which raised a $15 million Series A in November 2022, has just seven employees remaining after once employing over 70 people
Everybuddy Games has been appointed a trustee by the Tel Aviv District Court after amassing NIS 15 million (approximately $4.1 million) in debt. The Israeli startup is the company behind popular casual mobile game Lucky Buddies.
It raised $15 million in a Series A funding round in November 2022, led by Makers Fund with participation from Key1 Capital. Everybuddy, which was founded by serial entrepreneurs Yair Panet, Danny Frishman, Boaz Cohen, Eyal Katz, Shay Molho and Adi Dagan, employed 70 people at the time, but currently only has seven employees remaining.
Judge Iris Lushi-Abudi determined that a temporary trustee (Attorney Inbar Hakimian-Nahari) should be appointed for the company and authorized her to examine proposals for the sale of the company or its assets and operations.
The company petitioned the Tel Aviv court to continue its activities through a temporary trustee to prevent damage to its assets and proposed a financial plan based on collecting expected payments from customers playing its game.
The company's flagship product is Lucky Buddies, with revenue being generated from in-game player purchases. The company submitted the request two days ago and also obtained a freezing order on its operations.
According to the company, founded in 2013 with offices located in Herzliya, its main product attracts about 25,000-30,000 different players per day, mainly from countries such as the USA, UK, Germany, France, Canada, and more.
According to Everybuddy’s court filing, it failed to raise new funding as the outbreak of the war with Hamas last October dealt a further blow to the fundraising market, which had already cooled due to increased interest rates. "As a result, almost all potential investors with whom the company conducted various investment processes announced the freezing of procedures."
The debt breakdown includes approximately NIS 7.5 million ($2.04 million) in debt to suppliers and creditors, NIS 7 million ($1.9 million) owed to Bank Mizrahi, and around NIS 1 million ($270,000) owed to employees.
