Big News: Roblox reported earnings for the first time since going public in March.

Big question #1: What is Roblox?

Quick answer: Roblox is an online world where you can play tens of millions of games developed by other players.

Quote from David Baszucki – CEO @ Roblox:
“Our vision is that billions of people from around the world will come to Roblox to do stuff together…”

Big question #2: How does Roblox make money?

The Roblox ecosystem:
1) Players → Buy Robux
2) Players → Spend Robux
3) Developers & Creatives → Earn Robux
4) Developers & Creatives → Reinvest Robux and/or exchange for real-world currency

 

 

Roblox daily active users (DAU)(YoY growth):

1) 2018-Q1 – 10.3M
2) 2019-Q1 – 15.8M (↑ 53%)
3) 2020-Q1 – 23.6M (↑ 49%)
4) 2021-Q1 – 42.1M (↑ 78%)

Roblox hours engaged (YoY growth):
1) 2018-Q1 – 2.1B
2) 2019-Q1 – 3.0B (↑ 42%)
3) 2020-Q1 – 4.9B (↑ 64%)
4) 2021-Q1 – 9.7B (↑ 98%)

Roblox revenue (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q1 – $111M
2) 2020-Q1 – $162M (↑ 46%)
3) 2021-Q1 – $387M (↑ 139%)

Roblox revenue per account (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q1 – $6.99
2) 2020-Q1 – $6.85 (↓ 2%)
3) 2021-Q1 – $9.19 (↑ 34%)

Roblox revenue per hour engaged (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q1 – $0.037
2) 2020-Q1 – $0.033 (↓ 11%)
3) 2021-Q1 – $0.040 (↑ 21%)

Daily time spent on social media vs. Roblox:
1) Roblox – 156m
2) TikTok – 58m
3) YouTube – 54m
4) Instagram – 35m
5) Facebook – 21m
6) Pinterest – 15m

Roblox valuation history according to First Round:
1) Year 1 – $14M
2) Year 3 – $40M
3) Year 9 – $525M
4) Year 10 – $2.6B
5) Year 12 – $4.2B
6) Year 13 – $30.0B

Quote from Chris Fralic – Partner @ First Round:
“The lesson here is that it takes a long time to build a transcendent company, and you’ll often be misunderstood or undervalued for most of that time.”

Video #1: Roblox content creator MeganPlays on the platform’s popularity

Video #2: How Roblox became a massively popular gaming platform worth $30 billion

 

More #1: Roblox Queen MeganPlays Is Making Millions With a Blocky Digital Empire

 

More #2: Reflections & Lessons Learned from Roblox, After More Than a Decade of Partnership