Exploding Kittens is a leading game and entertainment company whose mission is to inspire people to connect, laugh, and play in the physical world. The company began with a Kickstarter campaign that raised $8.7M from 219,000 backers and remains the most‑backed project in Kickstarter history. It has sold over 18 million games and offers more than 20 physical games plus mobile apps, including a premium app that ranks among the top 30 on iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch. Exploding Kittens aims to reshape traditional game night into an entertaining person‑to‑person experience and develops both physical and digital products. Through the announced strategic partnership, the company plans to leverage Asmodee’s studios and global distribution network to strengthen its U.S. go‑to‑market and collaborate more closely on game design. The Chernin Group is an existing investor and strategic partner referenced in the transaction. Exploding Kittens is a Los Angeles–based tabletop games company founded by Elan Lee and Matthew (Matt) Inman and launched via a January 2015 crowdfunding campaign. Its core products include the namesake Exploding Kittens card game and follow-ups such as Bears vs Babies, You’ve Got Crabs, On a Scale of One to T-Rex, and Throw Throw Burrito. The company plans to use new capital to develop more games, expand its intellectual property into live events and other formats, build out its team, and take greater control of production and distribution. It is also experimenting with new gameplay ideas to grow its community and will host its first gaming convention, Burning Cat, in May 2020. Financially, the company launched with a record crowdfunding haul of $8.8M raised from over 219,000 backers, and it has grown a valuable consumer community that TCG believes can capitalize on the fast-growing board games market. Exploding Kittens is a relatively simple, strategic, kitty-powered card game built around a Russian‑Roulette-style mechanic where players draw cards until someone draws an exploding kitten and loses unless they have a defuse. The game features humorous art and action cards (e.g., defuse, Tacocat, Abracrab Lincoln, Magical Meat Bikini) and was heavily playtested with community feedback, including on a Joco geek cruise. The creators—Elan Lee, Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal), and Shane Small—oversaw design and art, and they added a fourth team member to manage social media and logistics. The campaign raised $8.7M from 219,382 backers on Kickstarter against an initial $10,000 goal, making it the biggest tabletop game project in Kickstarter history. The team plans to produce nearly a million decks (up from an expected 500) on a schedule promised for July, considers the first run sold out, and is exploring retail options while prioritizing special deliverables for initial backers.

Total raised

$39M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Oct 2019