FunCraft hits $50M run rate with 15 staff after 40 buyers passed
Summary
FunCraft CEO Michael Martinez approached nearly 40 buyers in spring 2025 and got zero offers.
He killed the sale, cut speculative campaigns, and rebuilt KPIs around profit over valuation.
FunCraft now runs at a $50M annual revenue run rate, up 50% year over year, on 15 employees.
The studio booked more profit in the first five months of 2026 than in all of 2025.
"We have to judge ourselves very honestly, with ROAS metrics from day one. Everything matters from the first install we buy."
01
A failed sale switched the scoreboard from valuation to profit
Martinez ran the process against advice from banker Affan Butt of Aream & Co. and from Play Ventures.
The buyer list was too broad and price expectations reaching buyers were disconnected from reality.
Presentations dragged into June and July, the summer dead zone that kills deal FOMO.
"There were many interested parties. So, to not even begin the negotiations, something didn't make sense to me."
Martinez and CTO Jason McGuirk dropped the sale after one weekend of feeling sorry for themselves.
FunCraft had already grown 40% in 2025 to $36M; the process removed distraction and forced discipline.
02
Unit economics of a 15-person hit factory
FunCraft runs on 15 people, including four engineers and two UI artists.
The studio launched 16 games in each of the last two years.
One engineer builds and ships a game in roughly six weeks, with no PM or designer.
The proprietary ExampleCraft 2 engine carries identity, login, analytics, and live-ops across every title.
At the current run rate, FunCraft generates over $3M revenue per employee, profitably.
Its biggest hit, dice game Farkle, was one the team debated not launching at all.
Number two title Bingo Dice was pitched by a UI designer and shipped in six weeks.
03
An ad-driven treadmill still short of a franchise
Advertising drives 80% of revenue; IAP contributes the remaining 20%.
Global ad ARPDAU sits at $0.60 and is climbing.
The core audience is women over 35 who overlap with puzzle and casual players.
AppLovin sits on both sides as a leading UA channel and monetization partner.
Meta is not yet a factor, concentrating UA risk in the current channel stack.
04
Scaling further needs specialists
Every employee gets equity and fully transparent performance, operating without oversight.
Martinez is hiring a growth lead to own Google, AppLovin, Unity, and Meta spend.
That lead would build an AI-driven creative factory behind the UA channels.
He also wants an engine-native designer for new game styles and a PM to extend hit lifespans.
"We want to hire people who have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder."
What this means
For Investors & VC: A profitable $50M run rate on 15 people is durable, but ad concentration and thin IAP cap franchise value.
For Service Vendors: FunCraft is hiring a growth lead across Google, AppLovin, Unity, and Meta and building an AI creative factory.
For Publishers & Developers: A shared engine plus ROAS-from-first-install discipline let one engineer ship a game in six weeks.
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