A Singaporean sushi chain has acquired a game psychology company in what looks like an acquisition of the latter’s four founders.
Standing Sushi Bar, which runs three outlets in Singapore and another in Jakarta, said it bought Gametize for an eight-digit sum. Gametize has a platform called GameMaki that gives clients a way to work challenges into their customer-facing services. It’s been working with Standing Sushi Bar since 2011, when the sushi restaurant started listing weekly “challenges” at its outlets in exchange for points to be redeemed for discounts.
While Gametize’s CEO, Keith Ng, will become the sushi bar’s technology head and CTO, Damon Widjaja, will manage Indonesia’s technology office, it seems Standing Sushi Bar wants them for more than their technology prowess. Both Ng and Widjaja are set to undergo formal training as sushi chefs. Gametize’s two other founders, Jesslyn Teo and Brenda Nicole Tan, will run a new fusion sushi concept bar to be opened in Singapore called Sushitize.
Standing Sushi Bar’s CEO is Howard Lo, a former long-time Microsoft employee.
PS: It’s April 1, guys.