From Candy Crush to Minecraft to making the family phone ring again
Andreas Tael is joining Barnluren as Co-founder. He spent more than a decade learning what holds attention — and he's joining us to build the opposite.
By Greg Chrystall
From Candy Crush to Minecraft to making the family phone ring again — Andreas Tael is joining Barnluren as Co-founder.
We worked together at King very closely on some big tech projects, so we know each other well, and I couldn't be happier to be working with Andreas again!
Who Andreas is
Andreas spent 10 years at King, most recently leading the New Games R&D team: ~20 people, up to three games in flight at once, built to find out fast whether real players actually wanted the thing. Around ten concepts came out of it, including Minecraft Blast. He then went to Mojang as Senior Product Manager for Minecraft Java, running the platform team behind one of the most loved games and opinionated communities in software.
So he's spent more than a decade learning what holds attention. He's joining us to build the opposite.
What we're building
Barnluren is a phone for kids with no screen and no internet. A real handset, on a closed network, that only rings the people you've said yes to.
We've spent 2026 building the foundations — kernel drivers, back-end, the apps. That part works. The next problem isn't engineering: it's getting Barnluren into as many households as we can without losing what it's for. This is ultimately about helping children learn to talk to each other and build friendships. Andreas will lead on both.
Welcome, Andreas.