Igor Bukhman

Igor Bukhman (born 29 March 1982) is a Russian-born Israeli entrepreneur. Together with his brother Dmitry Bukhman, they founded online gaming company Playrix, which is best known for its mobile-app games such as Homescapes and Fishdom.[1]

Igor and his brother Dmitry were born in Vologda. Since he was a kid, Igor was engaged in programming. In 1999, Igor Bukhman was enrolled on the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at the Vologda State Pedagogical Institute. In 2001, together with his brother, they started developing online games. The same year, they published their first game Discovera. The brothers priced it at $15, uploaded it to 200 app directories, and made $60 in the first month. They founded Playrix in 2004. By that time, they had released three games and around 30 screensavers; by 2007, the number of games increased to 16, and the company's monthly income constituted around $300,000. Soon the company released such games as Homescapes, Gardenscapes, Fishdom, and Township.[2][3][4][5]

In 2018, the brothers personally invested in video and social network games developer Nexters Global and in Belarusian Vizor Games.[1] In 2019, Playrix bought the Armenian and Serbian studios Plexonic and Eipix Entertainment, respectively.[6] In 2021 and 2022, Igor Bukhman was a member of Nexters' Board of Directors; in April 2023, he was appointed a non-executive director of the company.[7] In October 2022, the company announced the closure of its offices and development operations in Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.[8] In 2023, the company employed more than 3,000 people around the world.[9] In June 2023, analytics company Data.ai (formerly App Annie) ranked Playrix seventh in the global ranking of mobile publishers by annual revenue, with the company in first place in EMEA.[10]

Igor Bukhman entered Forbes ranking of the richest entrepreneurs in the world in 2020 with a fortune of $3.1 billion.[1] In April 2023, Forbes estimated Bukhman's assets at $7 billion: he ranked 332nd in the world,[1] and 6th in the list of wealthiest Israelis.[11] In October 2021, the Bukhmans launched the Rix Capital family fund. In 2023, the investment company, with $4 billion of the brothers' personal funds under management, opened a permanent office in London.[9]

He is married and has four children. In 2014, Igor Bukhman moved to Dublin. In 2016, he acquired Israeli citizenship. Since 2020 he has lived in London.[1][5][12]