AI Game Development Startup Sett Raises $27M

The Rise of AI in Game Development: Sett Secures $27 Million

The gaming industry spurred the development of GPU processors in the 1990s. Consequently, it’s logical that artificial intelligence – a technology now heavily reliant on GPUs – is increasingly integrated into all facets of video game creation.

Continuing this trend, Sett, a startup focused on building AI agents for mobile game development and operation, has officially launched and secured $27 million in funding.

Funding Details and Investors

The funding arrived in two stages. A recent $15 million Series A round was spearheaded by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Additional investors included Saga VC, vgames, F2 Venture Capital, and Akin Babayigit. Babayigit is the founder and former leader of Tripledot, a prominent UK-based gaming company, and currently leads Arcadia Gaming Advisors.

Previously, Sett raised $12 million in seed funding from F2, Bessemer, and various angel investors within the gaming sector.

Strategic Timing and Industry Shifts

Interestingly, AppLovin, a potential competitor to Sett, announced the sale of its gaming assets to Tripledot on the same day. This transaction, valued at $800 million – a revision from AppLovin’s earlier estimate of $900 million – will be formally confirmed alongside AppLovin’s Q1 earnings report.

Sett's Approach and Customer Base

Since its founding in 2022, Tel Aviv-based Sett has operated in “stealth mode,” typical of many B2B startups.

The company focused on refining its product-market fit and building relationships with initial clients.

Sett’s current customer roster includes major players like Zynga, Scopely, Playtika, SuperPlay, Rovio, Plarium, Candivore, and Unity.

Although a website was launched five months ago, Sett is deliberately maintaining a low marketing profile.

The company reports a waiting list of over 100 gaming studios eager to join, and the new funding will be allocated to expanding its engineering and AI teams.

Addressing a Key Challenge: Game Discovery

CEO Amit Carmi, alongside CTO Yoni Blumenfeld, identified a significant challenge in the mobile gaming market: gaining visibility.

“The gaming landscape is incredibly competitive,” Carmi explained in an interview with TechCrunch. “The number of games available often exceeds the number of players, making it statistically difficult for a game to achieve success.”

Companies invest heavily in user acquisition marketing to improve their odds, but these efforts can be costly.

Research from AppsFlyer indicates that approximately $29 billion is spent to generate $100 billion in revenue.

Sett's AI-Powered Solution

Sett offers an AI agent designed to enhance game publisher marketing efforts.

With increased privacy restrictions on iOS, the emphasis has shifted to “creative content” – interactive in-game moments and marketing materials that showcase the game’s aesthetics and attract new users.

These “playable” ads are currently effective, but their creation can be expensive and time-consuming, often requiring the development of new game versions.

Sett aims to streamline this process. The startup claims its platform can build what previously required extensive manual coding, placement, and measurement 15 times faster and 25 times cheaper.

Industry Validation and Future Prospects

Akin Babayigit of Arcadia Gaming Advisors, drawing on his experience at Tripledot, believes Sett’s concept is compelling.

He described the team as “phenomenal” and “incredibly talented.”

The viability of Sett’s approach is further demonstrated by AppLovin’s sale of its gaming assets to Tripledot. These assets were initially developed to train the AI models that AppLovin now utilizes for ad and marketing tools, including playable ad creation via SparkLabs.

With established AI models and a large user base – AppLovin boasts a market capitalization of $103 billion – the game studios are no longer central to AppLovin’s strategy.

AppLovin is now focusing on larger opportunities, including a potential bid for TikTok’s global business.

The Question of AI Saturation

A significant debate surrounds the proliferation of AI services, particularly their growing ability to automate tasks traditionally performed by human workers. Determining the threshold of "too much" AI integration remains a challenge. Is there a definitive limit, or is the expansion unstoppable?

Companies such as Agave are already incorporating AI into creative workflows, and once this technology is widely adopted, reversing course may prove impossible.

Carmi expressed his belief that fully autonomous AI agents capable of independently developing and marketing games will eventually become a reality. However, he suggested that Sett’s focus may lie elsewhere.

“Our perspective is that the potential is actually greater than our current endeavors,” he stated. “This is the core reason we designed our game engine and agentic layer to generate code, allowing us to integrate our work directly into the game itself.”

The overarching vision for Sett centers on generating both marketing materials and in-game content.

Babayigit clarified that the initial goal isn’t to automate every facet of game design and implementation.

“I’m not even certain that’s currently feasible,” he noted. “The competition within the gaming industry is incredibly fierce, demanding exceptionally high standards and meticulous attention to detail. However, this team possesses genuine, cutting-edge technology.”

“Therefore, if anyone can successfully automate portions of game production and distribution, it is undoubtedly them.”

The Importance of Detail

To succeed in a highly competitive market, games require a level of detail that is exceptionally important. This necessitates a high bar for quality and execution.

AI’s role may be to assist in achieving this level of detail, rather than completely replacing human creativity and expertise.

• AI can automate repetitive tasks.
• AI can generate initial content drafts.
• Human oversight remains crucial for refinement and quality control.

The future of game development likely involves a collaborative approach, leveraging the strengths of both AI and human developers.