Big Viking Games is proud to announce today our acquisition of Gallop Labs. After working closely with the Gallop team for many years, we’re excited to be officially welcoming them to the Big Viking team.
At Big Viking Games, we’re passionate about bringing smart people together to Make Fans. And Gallop brings with it a lot of smart people. Founded in Toronto as a data science and marketing automation company, Gallop was quickly recognized with the Facebook Mobile Innovation Award and was named one of Canada’s Most Innovative Companies at the 2014 Canadian Innovation Exchange.
Great games come from great data, and the thought-leadership that the Gallop team will bring to Big Viking Games will only serve to make our work better. We’re so thankful to everyone involved in the acquisition process, including the founders of Gallop, their investors and their Board of Directors, who should all be incredibly proud of the company they built. When Canadian startups are acquired by other Canadian companies, the entire ecosystem wins.
The Gallop team members have already moved into our Toronto office. We can’t wait to see what we can do together.
Check out the full press release about the acquisition here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2016
BIG VIKING GAMES ACQUIRES GALLOP LABS
Award-winning data science startup joins leading HTML5 game developer
TORONTO, ONTARIO – Big Viking Games, a leader in free-to-play social and mobile games with an emphasis on HTML5 technology, has recently finalized a deal to acquire Gallop Labs, a data science startup whose groundbreaking technology won the Facebook Mobile Innovation Award.
Big Viking Games has long had a close relationship with Gallop Labs, whose other clients include The New York Times, Accuweather, and RBC Royal Bank. These companies have all benefited from Gallop’s next generation audience intelligence solution, which uses behavioral data to identify retention risks and engagement opportunities. Gallop’s insights allow clients to profitably grow their user bases by building audiences that optimize marketing spend and minimize user acquisition costs.
“We’re very excited to bring the talented Gallop team on board,” said Albert Lai, CEO of Big Viking Games. “Their proven track record of turning data into actionable audience insights will help us provide more engaging gameplay experiences for our existing players.”
As mobile advertising costs continue to increase, Lai believes that competitive game publishers will be defined by the strength of their user intelligence and data science capabilities. “With the improved analytical muscle of the Gallop team, Big Viking is ideally positioned to take on new first and third-party publishing opportunities.”
Gallop’s CEO, Karthik Ramakrishnan, believes the acquisition is a unique growth opportunity for both companies.
“I’m very proud of the platform and value we have developed over the past 2 years, along with the support of our investors,” said Ramakrishnan. “We’ve helped top brands improve their marketing efficiency through data science and been recognized as an Innovation leader in the industry, and the team is excited about the new chapter.”