According to a recent development, HappyFunCorp has been acquired by a Canadian firm, Tiny, for $30 million.
Tiny is a renowned product engineering company responsible for developing apps for prominent brands like Apple, Disney, Amazon, and Twitter.
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The tech industry continues to witness similar waves of mergers and acquisitions as companies navigate a competitive market.
This trend impacts not only startups and major tech firms but also the service providers closely associated with them.
Tiny, a publicly traded company in Canada with a market cap of approximately $500 million, will acquire HappyFunCorp through a combination of cash and shares.
HappyFunCorp, based in Brooklyn, New York, where it was founded, will continue to operate independently.
Ben Schippers, co-founder and co-CEO of HappyFunCorp, confirmed this arrangement in an interview. The acquisition will enable HappyFunCorp to collaborate more closely with Tiny.
Tiny has built a successful business by acquiring companies that specialize in providing front-end and back-end design and product services for tech and internet-based businesses.
Tiny’s portfolio already includes other acquisitions such as WeCommerce, an e-commerce technology player, Dribbble, an online community for designers, and Flow, a task and project management platform.
Andrew Wilkinson, co-founder of Tiny, is also the co-founder of MetaLab, an interface design company that is part of the Tiny network.
Combined, these companies work behind the scenes with renowned tech giants, collaborating on projects that require external expertise beyond the organization’s core workflow.
By relying on third-party service providers like HappyFunCorp and Tiny, these companies can develop, maintain, and update products efficiently, without diverting their internal resources.
The customer base of the combined Tiny organization spans from thousands of smaller online businesses to major tech players such as Amazon, Facebook/Meta, Twitter, Disney, Samsung, and Apple.
One notable success story involves MetaLab, which transformed a struggling startup’s concept into the wildly successful app, Slack.
HappyFunCorp, founded in 2009, has also established a strong reputation and an impressive list of high-profile clients.
Like the other companies in Tiny’s portfolio, it has been bootstrapped and profitable.
In 2022, HappyFunCorp generated $12 million in revenue, and it is poised for further growth this year.
The current leadership team, including Ben Schippers, Holly Zappa (co-CEO), and Robb Chen-Ware (COO), will continue to manage the company following the acquisition.
Tiny’s acquisition of HappyFunCorp is noteworthy not only due to ongoing consolidation in the tech landscape.
But also because it highlights the increasingly prominent role that companies like HappyFunCorp and Tiny will play in the future.
As companies face workforce reductions and budget constraints, they still strive for future growth and the development of innovative products.
Tiny believes that this dynamic will drive more business opportunities its way over time.
Schippers acknowledges that the profile of companies like HappyFunCorp has evolved significantly over the past decade.
Previously, they worked on high-profile projects without drawing much attention.
However, the pendulum has swung, and these companies are now receiving more recognition for their contributions.
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Additionally, cost consolidation will likely push many companies toward a “near shore” model, with R&D work being outsourced to locations like Costa Rica and other Latin American countries.
These are target locations because the costs are significantly lower. This shift reflects the direction the market is heading.
