Dmitry Bukhman: Playrix Co-Founder, $13.6B Forbes 2026

The Builders | Olam.business

Dmitry Bukhman (born May 27, 1985, Vologda, Russia) is the co-founder of Playrix, the Dublin-headquartered mobile-gaming company behind Township, Fishdom, Gardenscapes, and Homescapes. He and his brother Igor Bukhman built Playrix from a shared Pentium 100 in a 54-square-meter apartment into the largest mobile-gaming company in Europe and the third-largest globally by revenue — without raising a single round of institutional capital. Forbes estimates Dmitry Bukhman's net worth at $13.6 billion as of March 2026, placing him #216 on the global billionaires list.

At a Glance

Born	May 27, 1985, Vologda, Russia (Soviet Union)
Nationality	Israeli
Residence	London, United Kingdom
Education	MSc, Vologda State Pedagogical University (Applied Mathematics)
Company	Playrix Holding Ltd. (HQ: Dublin, Ireland) — co-founder
Revenue	$2.6 billion (2024, per Bloomberg)
Forbes 2026	$13.6 billion — #216 globally
Family fund	Rix Capital (est. October 2021)
Key games	Township, Fishdom, Gardenscapes, Homescapes

Bukhman's Origins: Vologda to Playrix

Dmitry and Igor Bukhman grew up in Vologda, a city in northern Russia roughly 450 kilometers from Moscow. The family lived in a 54-square-meter apartment — Dmitry, Igor, their parents, and grandparents. Their father worked as a security guard and their mother in human resources at a local factory. The means were modest; what changed the trajectory was a secondhand Pentium 100 computer gifted by their grandfather.

At 16, Dmitry and Igor began developing and selling PC games online. Their first title, Xonix, shipped in 2001 after a month of development. They priced a follow-up, Discovera, at $15 and uploaded it to two hundred app catalogs. Revenue in the first month: $60. The scale was trivial. The pattern — build a game, sell it online, iterate on the economics — was the one that would eventually produce $2.6 billion in annual revenue.

Dmitry enrolled at Vologda State Pedagogical University, earning a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics while coding through the nights. In 2004, while both brothers were still students, they formally incorporated Playrix. By that year, they had released three games and approximately 30 screensavers. By 2007 the portfolio had expanded to 16 titles generating roughly $300,000 per month.

Playrix: The Pivot to Mobile and the Billion-Dollar Breakout

Playrix spent its first five years as a casual-PC-game studio. In 2009 the company pivoted to free-to-play mobile games — a bet on a distribution model that was, at the time, unproven at scale for studios outside the US and Asia. The pivot was the strategic decision that separated Playrix from the hundreds of other small Eastern European game developers of its era.

In 2011 Playrix moved its headquarters from Vologda to Dublin, Ireland — a jurisdiction that offered favorable corporate-tax treatment, EU market access, and proximity to the English-language gaming ecosystem. The Dublin HQ remains the company's legal home.

The mobile breakout came with Township (2013), followed by Fishdom, Gardenscapes (2016), and Homescapes (2017). Each title targeted the casual-gaming audience — predominantly women over 30 — with a match-three puzzle mechanic wrapped in a narrative-driven renovation or building framework. The combination of story-driven casual gameplay and aggressive in-app-purchase monetization produced extraordinary lifetime-value economics.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile-gaming engagement surged globally. Playrix jumped from the #7 mobile publisher globally to #2 — behind only China's Tencent — measured by revenue, according to AppAnnie. Bloomberg valued the company at approximately $7.8 billion in 2020. By 2021 the valuation had reached approximately $8 billion.

The operating fact that makes Playrix structurally unusual among companies of its scale: it has never raised institutional venture capital. Dmitry and Igor Bukhman own the company outright. The entire $2.6 billion revenue base (2024, per Bloomberg) was built on reinvested cash flow, with no dilution and no external board seats. Among the top 10 mobile-gaming companies globally, Playrix is the only one that reached this scale without a single funding round.

Bukhman's Acquisitions and Expansion

In 2018 the Bukhman brothers acquired a stake in Nexters Global, the Cyprus-based developer behind Hero Wars. In 2019 Playrix acquired Plexonic and Eipix Entertainment, expanding its development capacity and diversifying its game portfolio beyond the core match-three franchise.

By 2023 Playrix employed over 3,000 people across offices on multiple continents. AppAnnie (now Data.ai) ranked the company seventh globally among mobile publishers by annual revenue that year. As of the most recent disclosures, Playrix reports more than 100 million monthly active users across its portfolio.

Bukhman's Exit from Russia and the Relocation

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Dmitry and Igor Bukhman publicly described the war as a "great tragedy" and called for an end to the conflict. Playrix announced it would cease commercial operations in Russia and Belarus and closed its Russian offices. The company relocated almost all of its approximately 1,500 Russian employees to other jurisdictions — an operationally extraordinary move executed under wartime conditions.

Dmitry Bukhman relocated his family to London. He holds Israeli citizenship. The London base places him alongside a cluster of Russian-origin Israeli-passport-holding technology billionaires who operate from the UK — a category that includes Yuri Milner (DST Global) and several others in the post-2022 Russian-emigrant cohort.

Rix Capital and Bukhman Philanthropies

In October 2021 Dmitry Bukhman established Rix Capital, a family investment fund. The fund operates as the Bukhman family's investment vehicle outside the Playrix operating business.

Dmitry and his wife Daria founded Bukhman Philanthropies, a charitable foundation supporting neonatal health, educational access, and environmental conservation. The Bukhman Family Foundation funds scientific research into curing type 1 diabetes and supports initiatives for underprivileged youth through arts and technology programs.

In July 2026 Dmitry Bukhman became the new sponsor of the International Booker Prize, committing £1.4 million ($1.9 million) annually for a decade. The award was renamed the Bukhman International Booker Prize, with prize money doubled to £100,000 for the winning author and translator.

Why Bukhman Matters to the Israeli Economy

Dmitry Bukhman is one of the wealthiest Israeli citizens and one of the most consequential figures in the global mobile-gaming industry. His profile matters to the Olam map for three structural reasons.

First, Playrix is the reference case for bootstrapped scale in gaming. In a category dominated by venture-funded and publicly listed companies — Tencent, NetEase, Zynga (Take-Two), Playtika — Playrix reached #2 globally without any external capital. That operating model is structurally different from every peer of comparable size.

Second, the Bukhman brothers represent a specific type of Israeli wealth: Russian-born, technology-founded, post-2022 emigrant, operating from London with Israeli citizenship. This cohort is large enough to constitute a demographic pattern in Israeli billionaire lists and in the London technology-and-finance scene.

Third, Playrix connects to the broader Israeli gaming ecosystem — alongside Playtika, Moon Active (Coin Master), ironSource (acquired by Unity for $4.4B), and the mobile-gaming developer corridor that runs between Tel Aviv, Limassol, and Dublin. Bukhman's company is the largest private node in that network.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Dmitry Bukhman?

Dmitry Bukhman (born May 27, 1985, Vologda, Russia) is the co-founder of Playrix, the Dublin-headquartered mobile-gaming company behind Township, Fishdom, Gardenscapes, and Homescapes. Forbes estimates his net worth at $13.6 billion as of March 2026, placing him #216 on the global billionaires list. He holds Israeli citizenship and lives in London.

What is Playrix?

Playrix Holding Ltd. is an Irish-headquartered mobile-gaming company co-founded by Dmitry and Igor Bukhman in 2004. It is the largest mobile-gaming company in Europe and the third-largest globally by revenue. Playrix generated $2.6 billion in revenue in 2024 and operates more than 100 million monthly active users. The company has never raised institutional venture capital.

How much is Dmitry Bukhman worth?

Forbes estimates Dmitry Bukhman's net worth at $13.6 billion as of March 2026. His brother and co-founder Igor Bukhman is estimated at the same figure. The Bukhman brothers own Playrix outright with no institutional investors.

Did Playrix raise venture capital?

No. Playrix has never raised institutional venture capital. The company was built entirely on reinvested cash flow. Among the top 10 mobile-gaming companies globally, Playrix is the only one that reached this scale without a funding round.

Where is Playrix headquartered?

Playrix is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company moved its HQ from Vologda, Russia to Dublin in 2011. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Playrix closed its Russian and Belarusian offices and relocated approximately 1,500 employees.

What is Rix Capital?

Rix Capital is the Bukhman family's investment fund, established in October 2021. It operates as the family's investment vehicle outside the Playrix operating business.

What is the Bukhman International Booker Prize?

In July 2026 Dmitry Bukhman became the sponsor of the International Booker Prize, committing £1.4 million annually for a decade. The award was renamed the Bukhman International Booker Prize and the prize money was doubled to £100,000 for the winning author and translator.

Related Olam Coverage

Primary Sources

Forbes Billionaires 2026 (Dmitri Bukhman profile). Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Playrix corporate disclosures and website (playrix.com). Wikipedia: Dmitry Bukhman, Playrix. Data.ai (formerly AppAnnie) mobile publisher rankings. Financial Times and Moscow Times reporting on Bukhman International Booker Prize (July 2026). Goodreturns, CEO Today biographical reporting.

The Olam Editorial Team | The Builders / הבונים

Dmitry Bukhman: The Bootstrapped Playrix Billionaire