Participated · Seed · Aug 2024

Jam & Tea Studios is developing AI-driven interactions for non-playable characters and content generation, debuting with Retail Mage, a roleplaying game about a wizard salesperson at a magical furniture store. In Retail Mage, players type free-form responses and actions while AI NPCs generate dialogue, behaviors and even in-inventory items in real time; artists still create 2D/3D assets. The studio has experimented with multiple large language models including OpenAI, Google’s Gemma, Mistral AI and Meta’s Llama and is fine-tuning models to keep NPCs in-character while applying guardrails. Creatives are heavily involved in crafting NPC motivations, backstories and example lines to shape the AI outputs. The company says it will protect and center human artists and writers as it integrates generative models. Jam & Tea is building additional ambitions beyond Retail Mage (internally called Project Emily) that will feature more environments and a longer storyline. The team of eight has raised seed funding and plans further fundraising as it readies Retail Mage for public release later this fall.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2024

Bitmagic is a Helsinki, Finland–based company founded in 2021 that transforms textual descriptions into fully interactive multiplayer 3D games. The company launched its platform on Steam Playtest, allowing users to create 3D multiplayer games from simple text prompts. Bitmagic leverages advanced AI techniques to remove traditional barriers in game creation and aims to democratize game development. The platform targets nontechnical creators by enabling them to bring game ideas to life without traditional tooling. The company announced a $4.0M seed raise in July 2024 and plans to use the proceeds to propel product development and platform growth.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2023

Rocky Road Games is developing a social gaming network designed to foster real-world social connections among players. The product is currently in stealth mode and the company intends to use the new funds to develop the network. The founding team — Thor Fridriksson, Vala Halldorsdottir and Sveinn Davidsson — are industry veterans with 10+ years working together on multiple hit mobile games. Team members previously worked on QuizUp, a trivia game that amassed over 100 million users globally. The company is based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Financially, the startup has raised a total of $5.2M to date. Rocky Road is a casual open-world mobile MMO that uses real-world map data so players travel around the real world and play mini-games solo, with friends, or with others. The team aims to balance bite-sized mobile mini-games with an overarching progression system to encourage long-term engagement. Launch is roughly a year away and the company plans to monetize primarily through cosmetics and aesthetic upgrades. Founder Thor Fridriksson intends to apply lessons from prior hits (QuizUp, Trivia Royale) and modern mobile monetization norms such as in-app purchases and subscriptions. Fridriksson’s past products achieved large viral reach—QuizUp had tens of millions of users and Trivia Royale saw 2.5 million downloads early—but struggled with sustainable monetization and exits. Rocky Road recently raised a seed round to begin building toward its ambition of eventually reaching a very large player base.

Led · Seed · Feb 2023

Founded in 2021 by former Owlient executives Charlie Guillemot and Remi Pellerin, Unagi builds Ultimate Champions, a cross-club fantasy sports platform that synchronizes with real-world matches. Players collect NFT player cards and earn or spend the Champ Token, while Unagi earns a 5 % fee on every transaction. The game has signed partnerships with 45 European football clubs, including Arsenal, and has surpassed 220,000 registered users, roughly 70,000 of whom are monthly active. A new partnership with EuroLeague will add a basketball version of the game next month, and the 25-person team intends to grow to 40 employees. To date the company has secured €6.1 million in equity and $5.7 million through token sales, including a $4 million Champ Token purchase by Binance Labs. Unagi aims to deepen sports league relationships, expand internationally, and eventually apply its ownership-driven web3 model to other game genres.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2022

Esports Coach Academy (ECA) is an Icelandic startup offering a software-as-a-service platform and training strategies that enable coaches to start esports youth programming. The platform provides tools, resources and knowledge for coaches to earn coaching 'badges' and teaches elements of coaching strategy. ECA also offers courses on physical and lifestyle topics, including 'exercise in esports' and 'nutrition in esports.' The software helps coaches track gameplay patterns, technical changes and social/physical factors that affect player performance. The company says around 3% of Icelandic children are enrolled in one of the country's esports coaching clubs tied to its approach. Co-founder Ólafur Steinarsson began building a grassroots esports environment in Iceland in 2018, and ECA plans to expand overseas following its initial domestic traction.