Grand Games raises $3M for multiple mobile game launches

Grand Games announced today that it has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding, which it plans to put towards development of its mobile titles. It has already soft-launched the first of these games, with another to follow this month and plans for another in early 2025. Earlybird Digital East Fund led the funding round, with Laton Ventures participating. The company plans to use the investment to build its team and further develop each title.

Grand’s first title is Magic Sort!, a color-matching puzzle game currently in soft-launch in the U.S. on iOS and Android. It plans to launch its second title, Car Match, sometime this month, with plans to work on its flagship title (which will focus on social interactions) for a launch next year. Grand uses AI for up to 30% of each game’s codebase, along with using platforms like Midjourney to generate its artwork. According to its founders, Grand plans to use such tools to iterate on its games faster, shortening the feedback loop with players.

Bekir Batuhan Çelebi, Grand’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement, “We saw how fragmented mobile game development had become and took the opportunity to build a radically different company to what we were seeing in the market. The majority of mobile games created now are often poorly executed copies of successful titles, and we see an opportunity to build a billion-dollar business made possible by adopting the latest AI technology which is helping us build and iterate games faster. Swift execution combined with innovation will be what separates us from other companies.”

This is the first investment that Earlybird’s Digital East Fund has made in gaming since it invested in Peak Games. Earlybird’s Oguzhan Ozer said of the investment, “We are quite selective investors, and knowing the challenges of the market with the insider view, have approached it cautiously. What set Grand Games apart and convinced us was the team quality and their vision, and we are very excited to support them in their journey.”

Görkem Türk from Laton Ventures added, “As Laton Ventures, we have full confidence that Grand Games, with a visionary founding team that has developed successful games on a global scale, will write new success stories. We are very excited about being a part of and helping this unique journey.”