CTalk
"A Robin Hood movement to help the smaller developers": How Appcharge is fighting app store monopolies
Gil Tov-Ly, CMO of Appcharge, speaks to CTech at Calcalist's Top 50 Most Promising Startups event in Tel Aviv.
Gil Tov-Ly
(Video: Streame)
"It's like a Robin Hood movement to help the smaller developers against the monopolies and the behemoths," says Gil Tov-Ly, CMO of Appcharge, an Israeli startup that has created an alternative to the iOS App Store and Google Play for game developers. Tov-Ly spoke to CTech’s Amy Shapiro at the annual Tel Aviv event celebrating Calcalist’s Top 50 Most Promising Startups 2026, where Appcharge ranked fifth.
Driven by the goal of becoming the "Shopify of games," Appcharge provides a B2C infrastructure that gives mobile game developers a way to build a web store and bypass traditional app store fees. These legacy platforms, explains Tov-Ly, are "charging 30% like a tax commission on every single dollar" processed. By circumventing this, the company affords publishers the ability "to sell directly to the players in a compliant way anywhere in the world."
Reflecting on Appcharge’s rapid trajectory, Tov-Ly notes the company is "already processing a billion dollars a year for studios" and aims to reach "$2 billion or $3 billion by the end of this year". Ultimately, Tov-Ly expects Appcharge to keep growing into a "very substantial merchant of record" across mobile gaming and the broader app space.
You can watch the full conversation in the video above.
