Layer, the AI application gateway built specifically for game developers, has raised $6.5 million in seed funding to make next-generation production tools.
Layer acts as the glue for game studios to deploy AI quickly and efficiently, with a professional suite of tools to build, manage and refine 2D, 3D and video assets while significantly reducing production time. Layer helps scale content across production pipelines, making it easier to develop and maintain games of all types. It’s got a lot of mobile game customers, which is why it has raised a new round of funding and is figuring out how to go after the PC and console game studio business.
“We’re the leading AI-powered tool for content creation, and we’re here for game studios,” said Volkan Gurel, CEO of Layer, in an interview with GamesBeat. “We started off with a focus on games. We’ve become the leading solution used by mobile studios worldwide. We have super deep gaming DNA.”
An artist working with AI tools.
Arcadia (Akin Babayigit’s new fund), and an investment vehicle connected to Riccardo Zacconi (co-founder of King), led the round, with participation from existing investors e2.vc (formerly 500 Emerging Europe). Layer previously raised $1.8 million in November 2023.
“We’re just very excited about the funding ground. We’re very excited about the team we’re building, not just for for product development, but at the board level. We’re super excited about how we are the leaders in mobile. And I believe we will be the leaders in PC and console gaming content creation.”
Founded by industry veterans from Unity and MIT, Layer has quickly become the leading AI-powered content creation platform for mobile studios worldwide. Since launch, more than 200 studios, including leaders like Zynga, Tripledot, SciPlay, Huuuge Games and Machine Zone, have integrated Layer into their production pipelines to accelerate asset creation while maintaining brand consistency.
Embracing multiple AI models
Layer helps create content faster.
The company helps game studios create content for everything from in-game assets to live ops, art and marketing assets. It is flexible in that it allows game studios to use the best-of-breed AI models for different tasks such as 2D imagery, 3D imagery and more in an AI production pipeline, Gurel said.
“It’s a jigsaw puzzle. Every company has a different need, and what we built was basically is an [all-in-one] platform where all these foundation models come in. So we are model agnostic,” he said. “We bring all these together under one umbrella and then deliver this super accessible tool for artists. And that actually also brings me to my next point, which is we try not to keep AI front and center in the product as much as the human aspect. We empower the artists.”
Gurel said many companies found our early that AI models …