AI startup Reforged Labs shuts down as the "gap we were selling into is closing"

Reforged Labs, a generative AI platform for mobile gaming creative strategy and performance marketing, is shutting down after three years, CEO Robert Huynh announced. The company, founded in 2023, served clients including Supercell, King, Ubisoft, Playtika, and Scopely, and had 17 employees across Vietnam and the US. Huynh cited the closing gap between AI capabilities and the company's product, as well as a limited market, noting that while best customers signed six-figure contracts, there aren't many studios at that scale.

AI startup Reforged Labs shuts down as the "gap we were selling into is closing" "Our best customers signed six-figure contracts, but there aren't many studios at that scale," says CEO Generative AI platform Reforged Labs is shutting down https://www.linkedin.com/posts/huynhrobert reforged-labs-is-winding-down-we-spent-share-7489011051401977858-gqD5/?utm source=share&utm medium=member desktop&rcm=ACoAAD3aOhABerX8MqqmMC0lSLUG uOXu-kZ1rQ after three years due to challenges scaling beyond the gaming sector. Founded in 2023, the company provided AI technology for "creative strategy and performance marketing in mobile gaming". Clients included Supercell, King, Ubisoft, Playtika, and Scopely. The company supported a team of 17 employees across Vietnam and the US. "We spent three years building AI creative tools for mobile game studios, spending over $500 million a year on ads, but it wasn't going to become the company we raised to build," said co-founder and CEO Robert Huynh. "The market is small. Our best customers signed six-figure contracts, but there aren't many studios at that scale. We tried expanding beyond gaming. It didn't work well enough. "Then AI changed dramatically over the last few months. The models became so capable that we rewrote major parts of our own product around them. And I think our customers, some of the most sophisticated teams in gaming, will soon be able to build much of this themselves He concluded: "The gap we were selling into is closing. We could have kept Reforged going as a smaller business. The revenue was real. But I'd rather end it clearly than shrink it slowly." In 2024, Reforged Labs raised $3.9 million in a seed funding round https://www.gamesindustry.biz/reforged-labs-raises-39m-in-funding-round led by venture capital firm DCM. It had additional contributions from Y Combinator, Epakon Capital, Goodwater Capital, Phoenix Fund, and Asymmetry Ventures. Niantic, Pocket Gems, King co-founder and former CFO Sebastian Knutsson, and the founders and executives of Sky Mavis were also angel investors.