Image: © 6okean/Stock.adobe.com
‘Kidtech’ developer SuperAwesome, founded by Dylan Collins, has been acquired by game publishing giant Epic Games.
Less than a year after receiving investment from Microsoft, SuperAwesome will now enter the fold of Epic Games, the publisher behind the global video game phenomenon Fortnite.
Founded in 2013 by Irish entrepreneur Dylan Collins, SuperAwesome has created a parental consent management toolkit with the aim of making it easier for developers to build a safe online gaming environment for children. Currently based in London, the company has raised more than $37m in investment and its tech has been used by brands such as Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Kelloggs, Warner Bros, Lego, Mattel and Hasbro.
This, it claims, has led to more than 500m kids gaining access to “safe digital engagement” each month across apps, games and online services.
“More kids interact online than ever before and now is the time to double down on their safety,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games.
“SuperAwesome is the company developers want to work with to make better online content for kids. We share the belief that digital experiences are better when you go the extra mile to respect privacy and we’re thrilled to invest in this future alongside the talented SuperAwesome team.”
Scaling up
Collins previously founded Demonware, which was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2007, and Jolt Online Gaming, which was acquired by GameStop in 2009. He said that partnering with Epic Games will now see the SuperAwesome platform reach a substantially larger number of children.
“The internet was never designed for kids so we started SuperAwesome to make it as easy as possible to enable safe, privacy-driven digital experiences for children everywhere,” he said.
“Partnering with Epic Games gives us the opportunity to deliver that promise on a scale which simply wouldn’t have been possible on our own.”
In his own blog post about the deal, Collins added that the acquisition means continued investment in ‘kidtech’ solutions that will mark a “step change” in making the internet safer for kids. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
In January, SuperAwesome announced that Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, had invested in a funding round that raised a total of $17m.
