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Family-owned Melbourne company Moose Toys, now with 750 staff worldwide and its own proprietary toys complemented by licensing deals with the likes of Bluey and CrunchLabs, has acquired the word building game Bananagrams played by millions worldwide.
Bananagrams, based in the US state of Rhode Island and available in 16 languages across 30 countries, was acquired for an undisclosed sum.
"Bananagrams shares our family-driven values and embodies everything we represent at Moose," says Moose Toys CEO and co-owner Paul Solomon.
"This now instantly recognisable brand brings people all over the world together for connection and play - the same ethos behind all our innovation at Moose.
"We've admired how this amazing team turned a simple idea into a household name, and we see enormous potential to continue its legacy as part of our ongoing strategy to accelerate our growth in the Games category."
Moose is known for its original intellectual property (IP) lines such as Little Live Pets, Magic Mixies and Shopkins, while earlier this year it launched a beauty industry-inspired slime brand called Gui Gui.
This year the company has also entered into licensing partnerships with the owners of viral animation sensation The Amazing Digital Circus, as well as CrunchLabs whose founder and former Mark Rober is a popular YouTuber who teaches kids about science and engineering.
This adds to existing licensing deals with the world's most popular YouTube channel MrBeast, and global children's TV favourite Bluey with which it renewed a multi-year licensing agreement last year.
The business was founded in 1985, but in 2001 was acquired by Solomon, Jacqui Tobias and Manny Stul. It now has offices in Australia, the US, the UK, France, Germany, mainland China and Hong Kong.
Bananagrams will become part of Moose's games division which was launched three years ago, with the acquisition itself stemming from the formation of an M&A division formed in early 2023 based on the successful growth of UK-based Worlds Apart, which it acquired and renamed to the Moose brand in 2018 as part of a European expansion.
The group now claims to be a "$100 million business" through a combination of acquisitions, licensing, world-class partnerships and new product development.
"We are absolutely thrilled that Moose Toys is taking the Bananagrams brand into its next chapter," says Bananagrams co-inventor and CEO Rena Nathanson.
"We've always been a small but passionate team dedicated to making games that bring joy, laughter, and connection.
"Moose shares that same passion, and we couldn't think of a better partner to continue what we started and take Bananagrams to even more families around the world."
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