Investment firm pays £16.2m for stake in The Chameleon, Herd Mentality publisher Big Potato Games

Big Potato Games, the UK board game publisher behind titles including The Chameleon and Herd Mentality, has picked up £16.2m of outside funding from investment firm Mobeus Equity Partners.

Mobeus will take a minority stake in Big Potato, which has specialised in party games and family-weight titles since being founded by Dean Tempest, Ben Drummond and Tris Williams in 2014.

Tempest will continue to lead the company as co-CEO alongside Adam Wright, who has been with the business since 2020, while Mobeus investment director Dominic Draysey and firm partner Justin Maltz will join the company’s board.

Big Potato said it would use the influx of cash from the deal to “increase R&D to accelerate the launch of new titles”, invest in digital distribution and expand the business internationally.

Draysey said, “Big Potato is a purpose-led business, with a clear mission to help people build connection. We have been impressed with the team’s dedication to that mission.

“We are similarly impressed with their commitment to innovation. We see the combination of purpose and innovation as a winning formula for gaining market share in a market growing by about 6% annually.”

Big Potato debuted with trivia party game Linkee! in 2012, and by 2016 had ten games on its books, and had teamed up with Bananagrams to get its games such as Scrawl and Obama Llama into Target stores in the US.

The company had sold more than five million games by 2020, and now has more than 64 titles for sale online and across 44 countries.

Firm co-CEO Dean Tempest said, “Since founding Big Potato in 2014 we have grown rapidly whilst retaining our unique culture and identity.

“Working with Mobeus, we are excited to continue that journey and look forward to bringing more of our products to more people whilst staying a majority management owned business.

“We are excited by the potential to grow the business internationally, to distribute our games digitally, and to continue to have fun creating titles that spark joy.”

Private equity and venture capital-style investments are rare within the board game industry, although the hobby’s biggest name, Asmodee, was built into the publishing and distribution giant it is today on the back of buyout capital.

Other publishers to have picked up dollars from investment firms include Kinfire Chronicles-maker Incredible Dream, which scored $2m in seed funding in 2021 led by investment giant General Catalyst.

Board game distributor, publisher and e-commerce specialist Flat River Group was bought five years ago by private equity investor Guardian Capital Partners, which provided capital for a string of acquisitions for the e-commerce distributor.

Flat River has undergone a significant downsizing in the wake of US tariff activity this year, including laying off the vast majority of staff and suspending new projects at Spirit Island publisher Greater than Games, and slashing its North American hobby game distribution operation.

Ashley Broomberg, a managing partner at Mobeus, said, “Mobeus has a long and successful track record supporting and growing distinctive UK brands which we can take onto the international stage.

“We backed the iconic ‘Pink Stuff’ brand which we grew 15x before recently selling it to a large, listed US buyer.

“Our track record of growing brands also includes Rab outdoor clothing, the original Grobag business, Virgin Wines and Red Paddle board equipment. Those credentials mean we are extremely well placed to support Dean, Adam and their team as they continue to create yet another UK market leader with global ambitions.”