Juicy Button Games, a new independent games studio based in Cyprus, which was co-founded by the creators of Total Battle, Pixel Gun 3D and Mighty Party, on Thursday announced the successful completion of a $3 million seed round led by The Games Fund.

The Games Fund, which has offices in Cyprus and New York, is a specialist early-stage VC fund that invests in outstanding video game developers and GameTech companies.

According to the announcement, the investment will fuel Juicy Button Games’ development of an innovative mobile-first 4x strategy game from its headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus.


Deposits in the Cypriot banking system increased for the third consecutive month in April of this year, while loans recorded a net decrease after two months of growth, according to data from the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) released this week.

According to the CBC, total deposits in April saw a net increase (transactions excluding reclassifications, exchange rate, and other adjustments) of €209.1 million, compared to a net increase of €252.1 million in March of this year.

The annual growth rate of total deposits reached 1.4 per cent, compared to 0.6 per cent in March 2024.

What is more, the CBC reported that the total balance of deposits in April 2024 reached €52.5 billion.

This rise is attributed to deposits from residents of Cyprus, which increased by €256.9 million.


Cyprus’ economic climate saw an upswing in May, with the Economic Sentiment Index (ESI) increasing by 1.6 points when compared to April 2024.

According to the Economics Research Centre (CypERC) of the University of Cyprus, this rise in the ESI was primarily due to a stronger business climate in the services sector.

The improvement in sentiment within the services sector in May was largely driven by more positive assessments of firms’ recent economic situations and turnover over the last quarter.

However, the retail trade sector experienced a slight decline in sentiment. This downturn was attributed to further deteriorations in assessments of recent sales and increasingly pessimistic views on future sales.


The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) this week announced the suspension of the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license of W.G. Wealth Guardian Ltd.

This decision, which the commission officially made on May 28 and announced later during the week, was based on suspicions of violations of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017.

CySEC explained that it suspects that W.G. Wealth Guardian Ltd has not consistently met the authorisation conditions set out in the law.


Cypriot real estate firm FOX Estate Agency this week announced its official partnership with IQI Global, a leading real estate network and member of the Juwai IQI group.

According to the announcement, this strategic collaboration “marks a promising chapter for FOX as it teams up with a global leader in the real estate industry“.

Moreover, the announcement explained that “by partnering with IQI Global, FOX aims to enhance its services and broaden its market,” while also noting that “FOX will utilise IQI’s extensive international resources and advanced technology, such as the IQI Atlas super app for real estate agents and Juwai’s international property promotion platforms”.


Cypriots aged 20-64 worked an average of 38.5 hours per week in their main job in 2023, slightly above the EU average of 36.1 hours, according to data released by the EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

The highest average weekly working hours by sector in Cyprus were recorded in agriculture, forestry, and fishing with 45.7 hours.

This was followed by domestic workers with 44.1 hours and mining and quarrying with 44.0 hours.

The hospitality and food service sector also ranked high compared to the EU average, with 42.9 hours compared to 36.9 across the bloc.


Aviation has a strategic importance in Cyprus’ regional role plans for which the government is ready to embrace artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said on Thursday.

“Our skies are no longer bound by conventional limits. Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity have both the potential to unlock unique possibilities but can also present formidable challenges,” he told attendees during the international conference taking place in Larnaca called ‘Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity in Civil and Military Aviation’.

He underlined it is very important for the government to increase its air connectivity.


The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Thursday, May 30 with losses.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 164.80 points at 18:25 during the day, reflecting a decrease of 0.12 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 100.24 points, representing a drop of 0.13 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €322,197 until the aforementioned time during trading.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the alternative and hotel indexes rose by 1.15 per cent and 0.94 per cent respectively. The main index fell by 0.71 per cent while the investment firm index decreased by 2.13 per cent.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (-0.22 per cent), Hellenic Bank (-0.76 per cent), Demetra (-2.2 per cent), KEO (+1.94 per cent), and Logicom (-1.84 per cent).