10 Things You Didn’t Know about Lior Shiff
Everyone has that little child in them who likes playing games. When you need a break from work, have some time to kill, or are waiting in a long queue, you will most likely play your favorite mobile game. Have you played sudoku, spider solitaire, or triple tile? If you have, then you know Lior Shiff, the CEO of Tripledot Studios, one of the leading mobile games companies in the world. Although most people associate him with Tripledot, Lior Shiff has an interesting professional background and history. Here are ten things to know about Lior Shiff:
1. Born and raised in Israel
Lior Shiff was born in 1978 in Ramat HaSharon, Israel. He is the grandson of Alina Najberg, born in Poland. Alina survived the Kazakhstan war and moved to Israel later. Lior obtained his first degree from Tel Aviv University between 1994 and 1997, studying B. A. in Computer Science and Accounting. Shiff also holds an additional BA degree in Psychology from the same university. At the age of 20, Lior started working with the Israel Defense Forces and served for seven years and two months. During this tenure, he headed a team that won the “Creative Thinking and Intelligence Contribution” award. Shiff was also awarded two source of life awards for creating life-saving systems. He worked in the Israeli NSA, managing a research and development department with 40 engineers and a $5mm budget.
2. Founded Product Madness
Inspired by their innate love for gaming, Jose Brotons and Lior Shiff founded Product Madness in 2007. They started by developing casual games for mobile and Facebook before refocusing their efforts on the booming social casino genre in 2009. The company has been bringing exceptional social slots to real slot fans since then. Shiff spearheaded the sale of Madness to Aristocrat towards the end of 2012. During his time as the MD, Shiff helped grow the company’s revenue fifteen times in three years. Product Madness is currently one of the leading social casino companies in the world, with revenues of over $400 million per year.
3. Co-founded On the Spot
In 2016, Lior co-founded On The Spot with Anton Zhuravsky and Yegor Tsirkun. The boutique software development firm is located in Belarus, UK. Shiff currently holds the position of co-founder and chairman. On The Spot Company offers a broad range of IT services like Mobile app development, Unity games development, Blockchain software development, and HTML5 games. It also provides Complex web-based solutions, Manual and automated testing, and IT consultancy.
4. Director of Shiff Investment Company
Incorporated in January 2017, Shiff Investments Limited is a private company located in Greater London. Per You Control, the private firm deals in buying and selling own real estate properties. Lior Shiff and Maayan Shiff are the only two directors, with Lior owning 75% of the company
5. Co-founded Lunar Labs
Mr. Shiff is Co-Founded Lunar Labs Limited with Adam Stevens and Anton Zhuravsky in 2018. Lior was the director until he resigned in February 2021. Lunar is a startup that has developed a creative management platform to help developers create, optimize, and manage mobile ads. The platform aids studios in transforming their games into HTML5 games, playable ads, and Google Play instant applications with a few simple steps. With that, gaming studios can create and deliver playable assets and give an idea about their games.
6. Family
Lior is married to Maayan Shiff, and they have four children. Maayan was born in February 1979 in Israel and currently resides in the United Kingdom. She owns 10% shares of Shiff Investment Limited.
7. Independent advisor and investor
Mr. Shiff has been supporting other startups and entrepreneurs since 2009. He is an active speaker, advisor, and investor in different industries, including the mobile game space. Leo is involved with various audiences, trying to reach a broader market. Lior Shiff has participated as a speaker in several events like the Casual Connect held inTel Aviv in 2016. The international games conference was about matching the creativity of the gaming industry with investment and media innovation. He was also a speaker at the 2016th Fast Growth Forum in London where he shared his growth and success story. According to his LinkedIn profile, Lior’s current and past portfolio companies include Crossrider, Moon Active, The Gift Project, Banyan, Yellowstripe Resources, Shopic, VoyaJoy, Weengs, Bookaway, and Soomla. He serves in different capacities like an investor, advisor, and seed investor. Shiff is the current advisory board for TicTuk Technologies.
8. Funding round investments
In January 2018, Bookaway raised $1million in a funding round, a seed round by Lior Shiff and Elad Kushnir. He invested $650K in Shad X in 2019. Shiff has been supporting TrippledotStudio’s round funding since 2017 and currently owns around 30% of the business. According to TechCrunch, the London-based startup has raised $116 million, putting its valuation at $1.4 billion.
9. Shiff Holdings Limited
Lior Shiff is the current and sole director of Shiff Holdings Limited. The private limited company was incorporated in 2016 and is located in London. Shiff Holdings deals with other business support service activities, and Lior is the largest shareholder.
10. L & S INVEST GMBH
Lior Shiff is the managing director of L & S Invest GMBH, located in Berlin, Germany. The company deals in the management of its assets, including acquisition on its account and development of real estate projects. They invest in real estate, other companies, purchase and sale of properties, acquisition of operational hotels, as well as rental and leasing both home and abroad. L & S is also involved in the establishment of branches both locally and internationally.
Takeaway
Apart from being a co-director and CEO of Tripledot Studios, Lior Shiff is an experienced entrepreneur and investor who has founded and managed several successful companies. He is one of the most inspiring tech leaders with a rich professional background with exceptional IT, business, and marketing skills. His career began 24 years ago and has grown to an enviable level. Lior’s role as a private advisor reveals his passion for supporting other startups and entrepreneurs and helping them grow. It takes lots of hard work and discipline to manage multiple multi-billionaire companies and investments concurrently, and it is evident that Shiff possesses these qualities.
