Games pushed the creation of GPU processors in the 1990s, so it only fits this AI (the technology that GPUs use to power electric motors today) into almost every aspect of video game design. To align with this trend, a startup called Sett (which is building an AI agent to build and run mobile games) appeared from invisible with $27 million in funding.

The funding was raised in two branches, most recently the $15 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Saga VC, Vgames, F2 Venture Capital and Akin Babayigit are the founder and former head of Games Unicorn Tripledot in the UK, and he is now head of the VC company Arcadia Gaming Advisors.

Earlier, Sett raised $12 million in seed funding from F2, Bessemer and some gaming industry leaders as angel investors.

(In an incredible time, sources told me that Setter's rival, April Lovin, announced today that it would sell its gaming assets to TripleDot. The deal, for $800 million (as previously estimated Appleovin estimates), is about to publicly recognize Applovin's Q1 revenue later today.

Tel Aviv-based Sett has so far adopted the same approach as many other B2B startups. Since its inception in 2022, it has been under radar, honing the product market fit and cultivating its early customer base. Today, the customer list features Zynga, Scopely, Playtika, Superplay, Rovio, Plarium, Candivore and Unity.

It announced a website five months ago, but now it's completely off, sett is still Its pedals were not placed on marketing metal. It says it has over 100 game studios to get started on the waiting list, so the plan is to use new funds to hire engineers and AI experts.

As for the product, the focus is Amit Carmi, CEO of the co-founder of the company with CTO Yoni Blumenfeld, sees it as one of the biggest pain points in the mobile gaming business: it’s received attention.

"Games are one of the most competitive industries in the world," he told TechCrunch when accepting TechCrunch. "There are a lot of players, but you actually have more games than people. Making games is very easy, but statistically, it's almost impossible to make a successful game."

He continued that companies spend a lot of money on user acquisition marketing to improve their chances of success, but generally, building and placing that content is very expensive. According to Appsflyer's research, the average revenue for every $200 billion spent is about $100 billion.

Sett's solution is an AI agent for game publisher marketing. Extensive user-level tracking is a past on iOS, so the focus now is on what Carmi calls “creative content” – interactive moments and marketing streams built in games are based on the aesthetics of the game and are designed to attract users to try new games or play more.

Currently, these "playable" advertising and marketing efforts are very attractive, but they can be very expensive and time-consuming, similar to building new versions of games.

This is where Sett sees the opportunity. Now it is possible to build content that humans had to code, position and measure from scratch with Sett, The Startup Smops, 15 times faster and 25 times cheaper.

Arcadia's Babayigit, from his time at Treeledot, knew the importance of marketing in helping games stand out and play. He described the idea as "brainless." “It’s just an amazing team, and a talented group.”

The opportunity to position is also a proven opportunity. First, Setter's rival Appleovin sold to TripleDot's game studio assets for $800 million were first built, and we've got a lot of understanding of the AI ​​models Apple now uses in a wide range of advertising and marketing tools, including creating its own playable ads for customers through Sparklabs.

Now, with an AI model and a wide network of users built - Appleovin has a market capitalization of $1003 billion despite the short seller noise - game studios are no longer at the heart of Applovin. Meanwhile, Appleovin's eyes are on a bigger prize: it is one of the companies that publicly stated that it would buy the global Tiktok business.

How much AI is too much?

The question mark of all AI services is huge, with the ability to take over the growing number of functions previously performed by humans. How many? There are even "too many"? Companies like Agave have already invested some AI in the creative process and, so to speak, once the elves are out of the bottle, it's OK.

Cami said that while he thinks you will eventually be able to build an AI agent to develop and sell games, that may not be the place for the solution.

"We think it's actually a bigger opportunity than what we're doing right now," he said. "That's why we build game engines and agents in the way we generate code. "Sett's vision is really getting to know the marketing content and what's in the game." ”

"I don't think Genesis is going to replace 'all aspects' of game design and execution," Babayigit said.

"I don't even know if it's possible to do it now because to compete in a very crowded area, the bars are very high, so you need to make a game with very important details. But I know that this team works in the real technology behind them, so if someone can automate some parts of the game and some parts of the game production and distribution, they're them."