Layer raises $6.5MM USD to keep delivering leading next-gen tools for game studios

We’re thrilled to announce that Layer has successfully closed a seed funding round, raising $6.5 million from renowned games industry leaders, Riccardo Zacconi (co-founder of King) and Akin Babayigit (co-founder of Tripledot Studios). Investment from market-changing founders validates the strength of our vision and platform to power the future of content creation for games and entertainment.

Since launch, Layer has rapidly become the AI-suite of choice for game studios. Over 200+ studios - including industry giants like Zynga, SciPlay, Huuuge Games, and Machine Zone - use Layer to scale live service content pipelines every day.

We’ve been moving lightning-fast, alongside our partner studios, scaling our enterprise features at an incredible pace. To keep up with the needs of game developers worldwide, we’re expanding our team and accelerating our product roadmap. With this funding, we’re doubling down on our mission to bring cutting-edge AI tools to creators everywhere - ensuring Layer remains the most powerful creative toolset for professionals.

Giving game studios the secret to success

As we look to the future, it’s important to celebrate what we’ve achieved as a small team punching way above our weight. We’re incredibly proud of the game studios we partner with every day, where we see an upwards of 80% increases in productivity, or thousands of hours saved in production time.

Here’s a look at just some of the studios that use Layer every day to bring their games to life.

Our investors: Games industry leaders and pioneers

We are proud to be backed by two co-leading industry giants who share our passion for helping game studios build incredible player experiences. Their investment will accelerate our mission to bring groundbreaking AI-powered tools to studios across the globe.

A visionary leader in the games industry, Riccardo is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of King, the studio behind Candy Crush Saga. Under his leadership, King became a dominant force in mobile gaming, culminating in its acquisition by Activision Blizzard for $5.9 billion in 2016.

With deep expertise in scaling game businesses, product strategy, and player engagement, Riccardo brings invaluable insight to Layer as we continue building the most advanced AI-powered creative platform for game studios.He will be an active board member, bringing his expertise in business development, growth strategy, and industry leadership to help shape Layer’s future.

We’re excited to welcome Akin Babayigit, co-founder of Tripledot Studios, to Layer’s Board of Directors. Akin has built and scaled some of the most successful businesses in gaming and tech, from growing Tripledot into a billion-dollar company to holding key leadership roles at Facebook and King. He is also a prolific investor in startups across AI, gaming, and technology.

Layer is a major investment for Akin, one of the first from his new fund, marking a significant interest in the future of AI in gaming. He invests widely, but Layer is one of the few companies where he’s taking a board seat, signaling his deep commitment. He will be an active board member, leveraging his expertise in growth, monetization, and scaling to help drive Layer’s expansion.

Building the future of content creation

Our vision is to redefine game development with tools that empower creators, streamline workflows, and integrate seamlessly into existing pipelines. As we heading the future we’re focusing on three key areas:

• Creating professional tools with unparalleled control: As gen-AI becomes an essential tool for game studios, we’re committed to giving professionals greater control over AI-generated content.

• Continue expanding our models into every dimension - 2D, 3D, Video, and Audio: We’re building Layer into the definitive multi-modal platform for game creation, enabling asset creation across all formats - 2D, 3D, Video, and Audio.

• Scaling enterprise features while unlocking functionality for more studios: Our core focus has always been on supporting enterprise studios at scale, and we’re doubling down on that commitment. While improving onboarding with better tutorials, we’re refining UI/UX for a more intuitive experience, and expanding content to support creators at all levels - not just Tier 1  studios.

Next steps

This funding isn’t just about growth - it’s about building something forever. Like our customers build games for billions of players to enjoy, we're building Layer for every creator who is serious about developing a game. 

With a bigger team, a sharper focus, and the backing of world-class investors, we’re more committed than ever to shaping the future of game creation. We know AI is evolving fast, so are we.

We believe the future of game production is artist-led and AI powered. The next chapter for Layer is about delivering on this vision, putting creators first, pushing our product to new heights, and ensuring that creators in AAA studios or small indie teams have the best tools to bring their ideas to life.

We’re just getting started, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.