Tamatem Games

Tamatem Games was founded by Hussam Hammo in 2013 upon realising there were a lack of Arabic games available online in the Arabic-speaking world.{{Cite web |last1=Sawalha |first1=Jawanna |date=2016-11-10 |title=Why the Arabic market is your next target |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/why-the-arabic-market-is-your-next-target |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Game Developer |language=en}} Tamatem received its first acceleration opportunity from 500 Startups, a U.S. accelerator and incubator in Silicon Valley, California in April 2013.

Tamatem also took part in a three-month growth hacking program at WeWork where it signed its first publishing deal with Tapinator to localise and bring its games to the Middle Eastern and Northern African markets. In 2013, Tamatem led its first round of seed investments that gave it $350,000 from MENA Venture Investments and 500 Startups. Following its seed round, Tamatem also secured a second round of funds in 2015 that came in from Kuwaiti-based fund Arzan VC.

Milestones

Awad the Delivery King is a racing game produced in collaboration with Jordanian animation studio Kharabeesh and was published in 2014. It was downloaded over 1 million times in less than a year since its release. This helped the company hit its 6 million downloads mark.

By 2015, Tamatem had a 35-game portfolio running on both Android and iOS devices. It hit 40,000 downloads per day{{Cite journal |date=2016-06-21 |title=Playing the Market: Mobile Gaming in the Middle East |url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/playing-market-mobile-gaming-middle-east |language=en}} and received investments from both regional and international investors. A Dumb Question, one of Tamatem’s games released in 2015, became the number 1 downloaded app in Saudi Arabia four days after its release. {{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In 2016, Tamatem had 16 million total downloads and 41 published games, half of which reached No.1 on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The portfolio of games had more than 2.1 million active users monthly and 350,000 active users daily. The company was experiencing a 40% month-over-month growth in downloads and revenue. By the end of 2017, Tamatem Games reached 40 million downloads for a total of 50 published games.{{Cite web |title=Jordanian Entrepreneur Built Tamatem Into A Regional Key Player In The Gaming Industry |url=https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/industry/business/jordanian-entrepreneur-built-tamatem-into-a-regional-key-player-in-the-gaming-industry |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Forbes Middle East |language=en-US}}

In 2018, Tamatem raised a Series A investment round of $2.5 million.{{Cite web |last=O'Hear |first=Steve |date=2018-02-01 |title=500 Startups-backed Tamatem raises $2.5M to localise games for Arabic-speaking market |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/tamatem/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} The round was led by Wamda Capital with participation from Discovery Nusantara Capital, Raed Ventures, Vision Ventures, and Seed Equity Venture Partners. 2018 was also the year that Tamatem signed with Lithuanian-based mobile game developers Game Insight to publish and localise Airport City in the Arabic-speaking market.{{Cite web |title=Jordan-Based Mobile Game Publisher Tamatem Raises $2.5 Million |url=https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/leadership/entrepreneurship/jordan-based-mobile-game-publisher-tamatem-raises-2-5-million |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Forbes Middle East |language=en-US}}

In 2020, Tamatem continued its Series A investment round, raising another $3.5 million also led by Wamda Capital along with Modern Electronics Company and North Base Media. In the same year, Tamatem also partnered with Croatian video game developer Nanobit to publish and launch the mobile game Hollywood Story in the Arabic-speaking market. In 2020, Tamatem doubled in size and expanded from 35 to 70 employees in 6 months.{{Cite web |title=Tamatem, the games publisher for the MENA market, raises $3.5M to reach other 'underserved' gamers |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/14/tamatem-more-series-a/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=TechCrunch |date=14 February 2020 |language=en-US}}

In 2021, PlayerUnknown's BattleGrounds creator Krafton led Tamatem’s Series B investment round, closing at $11 million.{{Cite web |last=Park |first=Kate |date=2021-12-06 |title=Tamatem raises $11M Series B led by PUBG maker Krafton |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/06/tamatemgames-raises-11m-series-b-led-by-pubg-mobile-developer-krafton/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} The round—seeing participation from Venture Souq, Endeavor Catalyst, and other existing investors—brought Tamatem’s total amount of funding to over $17 million since its inception.{{Cite web |title=Jordan's Tamatem Startup Raises $11M In Funding Round Led By Korean Game Company Krafton |url=https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/innovation/startups/pubg-creator-krafton-leads-$11m-funding-round-in-jordan-based-arabic-games-publisher-tamatem |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Forbes Middle East |language=en-US}}

In 2022, Tamatem announced a partnership with MSA Novo and its entrance and expansion into the Chinese mobile games market.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=Tamatem Games partners with MSA Novo |url=https://venturebeat.com/2022/06/14/tamatem-games-partners-with-msa-novo/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}

In 2023, Tamatem partnered with Tap Payments{{Cite web |last=Bignell |first=Francis |date=2023-09-17 |title=Tap Payments Taps Into Mobile Gaming Market With Tamatem Games Partnership |url=https://thefintechtimes.com/tap-payments-taps-into-mobile-gaming-market-with-tamatem-games-partnership/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=The Fintech Times |language=en-GB}} and ZEGOCLOUD{{Cite web |date=2023-03-26 |title=Tamatem Games tops Arabic mobile game market in MENA region — CEO - Jordan News {{!}} Latest News from Jordan, MENA |url=https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-109/News/Tamatem-Games-tops-Arabic-mobile-game-market-in-MENA-region-CEO-27742 |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Jordan News {{!}} Latest News from Jordan, MENA |language=en}} to integrate mobile payments and voice chats into its mobile gaming platform.

Business Model

Tamatem’s business model is based on a split-revenue partnership. Tamatem partners with game developers from around the world to publish their games in the Arab region. Revenue is split based on an agreement between Tamatem and the developer. Tamatem has published games in the Arab world from developers in the United States, Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

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• {{Official website|http://tamatem.co/}}

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Category:Entertainment companies of Jordan

Category:Video game companies established in 2013

Category:Video game development companies