a16z speedrun SR002 companies

As of Sep 25, 2026, 25 companies · 47 founders

    View on speedrun.a16z.com (opens in a new tab)

    SR002 at a glance

    Companies
    25
    Founders
    47
    Founders per company
    1.9
    Median team size
    7

    Most common tags

    Share of companies. A company can carry several tags.

    • Gaming19 · 76%
    • Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy7 · 28%
    • AI Agents6 · 24%
    • AI Generative Media6 · 24%
    • Adtech / Marketing Tech2 · 8%
    • Consumer2 · 8%

    Where they are based

    Share of 25 companies with a listed location; 84% are in the US.

    • SF Bay Area11 · 44%
    • Los Angeles3 · 12%
    • Seattle2 · 8%
    • Ann Arbor1 · 4%

    Companies in SR002

    Showing 25 of 25 companies

    • Aghanim

      Aghanim builds a direct-to-consumer platform for mobile game studios, letting them sell to players on the web instead of routing all commerce through app stores. Its core product is a browser-based game hub, generated automatically using generative AI, that bundles storefront, live-ops, and community features into a single portal. Studios use it to run targeted offers, creator programs, and payment flows, replacing the patchwork of in-app purchase limits and third-party tools those jobs previously required.

      aghanim.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Fintech
      Gaming
      Commerce / Marketplaces
      Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
      Team of 52
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Constantin Andry
    • Braid

      Braid builds an AI-powered employee engagement platform that runs inside Slack, automating the games, polls, events, and reminders that HR and team managers otherwise schedule and run by hand. It targets remote and hybrid teams, replacing the manual coordination work behind culture programs with AI-generated scheduling, personalized activity recommendations, and automated participation nudges. The product also surfaces engagement insights through AI-generated reports, removing the need for manual tracking.

      braidhr.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Future of Work
      HR Tech / Talent
      AI Agents
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 5
      Founded 2022
      Founders:
      • Quinn Li Oshea
    • Clementine

      Clementine builds games that rewrite their own rules and code in real time based on player input in natural language, making the act of modding the game itself the core mechanic. Its first title is a monster trainer. The underlying system generates functional code on the fly, replacing the static, designer-authored rules that conventional games ship with.

      clementine.games (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Agents
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 3
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Ramon Iglesias
    • Crater Studios

      Crater Studios builds PC and console games using a production model that combines AAA-quality depth with indie-scale speed and cost. The studio uses AI-driven workflows and modular development frameworks to prototype, test, and ship titles faster than traditional studios. Its portfolio includes the launched title Dwarven Realms and games in progress across the extractor shooter and collectible card game genres.

      craterstudiosgames.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Location: Apex, North Carolina, USA
      Team of 11
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Mari Israel
      • Noni Amnon Israel
    • Dare Drop

      Dare Drop builds a gaming influencer marketing platform for game publishers and studios. It connects brands with Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok creators through structured, reward-driven challenges called Dares, replacing the manual, agency-run outreach that publishers typically use to promote titles. Publishers set goals and rewards; creators complete in-game or on-stream challenges for their audiences, driving sustained content and community engagement.

      daredrop.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Adtech / Marketing Tech
      Gaming
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 10
      Founded 2019
      Founders:
      • Joe Bechtold
    • Dream Voyage

      Dream Voyage builds AI-powered consumer products across spiritual wellness, social payments, and social gaming. Its portfolio includes SINE Daily Manifest, an AI spiritual health app; Vdrop, which lets users send money to others with a single tweet; and RPS, a Solana-based social game. The studio targets mainstream consumers and replaces conventional app-store categories with social-native, shareable experiences designed to spread organically on short-form video platforms.

      Tags:
      Consumer
      AI Generative Media
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 4
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Coco Chen
    • Drill Creative

      Drill Creative builds gaming experiences for core gaming audiences using agentic AI, replacing traditional manual game design and content-creation workflows. The company is in stealth and has not yet disclosed product details publicly.

      drillcreative.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
      Team of 2
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Alan Noon
      • Jeannie Noon
    • First Day Entertainment

      First Day Entertainment builds AI-powered video games for solo players who want social and cooperative gameplay without the friction of online multiplayer. Its two released titles are Heroes of Magic and Cards, a poker-based deckbuilding roguelike, and Mana Land, a single-player RPG where AI companions replace human teammates for group-style questing and conversation. The games target players who seek the depth and camaraderie of multiplayer experiences but prefer to play on their own schedule and outside competitive online environments.

      firstdayentertainment.net (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Agents
      Location: Sunnyvale, California, USA
      Team of 2
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Mike Mei
      • Stephen Gou
    • Gamebeast

      Gamebeast builds an AI-native platform that gives game studios a single intelligence layer across analytics, live operations, community insights, and attribution. Studios use it to understand player behavior and act on it across the full player lifecycle, replacing a fragmented stack of separate analytics tools, manual LiveOps workflows, and ad-hoc data queries. An autonomous AI agent runs continuously, surfacing insights and executing decisions without requiring a data team or SQL expertise.

      gamebeast.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Enterprise SaaS
      Gaming
      Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
      Team of 4
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Christian Meris
      • Zander Brumbaugh
    • Gridsnap

      Gridsnap builds interactive experiences inside the Fortnite ecosystem using Unreal Editor for Fortnite, developing its own original IP and co-creating branded spaces for influencers and their communities on the platform. It also takes equity stakes in games made by emerging developers in exchange for direct development support, replacing the gap between solo creator ambition and production capacity.

      Tags:
      Gaming
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
      Team of 3
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Thomas Hall
    • Hedra

      Hedra builds visual inference models and a production platform that lets creative and enterprise teams generate images, video, and audio from a single environment. Its proprietary Character-3 is a multimodal video model; the platform also routes work across leading third-party foundation models through one agent-driven interface. Prosumers use it for social content and branded marketing, replacing fragmented tool stacks and manual production workflows.

      hedra.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      AI Generative Media
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 18
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Michael Lingelbach
    • k-ID

      k-ID builds compliance infrastructure for platforms with youth audiences, including gaming, social media, and consumer AI. Its product suite covers age classification, high-assurance age verification, reusable age credentials, market-specific compliance logic, and regulatory intelligence, replacing the manual work of tracking and implementing child-safety rules across more than 200 jurisdictions. Operators use k-ID to stay compliant with laws such as COPPA, the UK Online Safety Act, and Brazil's ECA Digital without building that regulatory and technical layer themselves.

      k-id.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Gov Tech / Defense
      Cybersecurity
      Location: Singapore
      Team of 50
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Jeff Wu
      • Julian Corbett
      • Kieran Donovan
      • Timothy Ma
    • Legion

      Legion Studios builds Covenant, a first-person action game set in a dark fantasy world with mythical themes. The studio targets players who want narrative-driven, combat-focused single-player experiences in a genre dominated by AAA titles. Legion handles the full creative and development pipeline in-house, from world-building to production.

      legionstudio.dev (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Location: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
      Team of 12
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Christian Filip
      • Jacob Stegmeier
      • Seth Short
    • Lil Snack

      Lil Snack builds a daily web-based games platform for casual players, publishing a fresh set of bite-sized games each day tied to pop culture themes. It replaces the scattered, one-off casual game experience with a structured daily ritual, complete with streaks, leaderboards, and community discussion. The platform also distributes games through media partners such as Amazon Prime, Peacock, BuzzFeed, and Imgur, reaching audiences where they already spend time.

      lilsnack.co (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
      Team of 7
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Eric Berman
      • Travis Chen
    • LIVE AWARE

      LIVE AWARE gives game development teams a single platform to capture, consolidate, and analyze player feedback across playtests, Discord, Twitch, YouTube, and internal sessions. Its AI automatically organizes and tags gameplay footage and community input, then surfaces trending bugs and player pain points linked directly to video clips. The product replaces the manual work of sifting through scattered recordings, comment threads, and bug reports to prioritize fixes.

      liveaware.io (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Agents
      Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
      Team of 7
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • David Berger
      • Nathan Wheeler
      • Sean Vesce
    • Magic Circle Studio

      Magic Circle Studio builds AI-powered multiplayer games designed for close friend groups, playable inside Discord and on the web. Players use built-in AI tools to remix game content around their group's shared humor and inside jokes, replacing generic party games with something tailored to each circle of friends.

      magiccircle.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Consumer
      Gaming
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 4
      Founded 2022
      Founders:
      • Avi Romanoff
    • Neon Wild

      Neon Wild builds personalized, interactive story worlds for children, placing each child as the hero of their own narrative. The product targets parents seeking engaging, confidence-building experiences for young kids, replacing generic passive media with stories tailored to the individual child. Neon Wild's initial content is built around the DreamWorks property Gabby's Dollhouse.

      neonwild.com (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      Edtech
      AI Generative Media
      Location: New York, USA
      Team of 2
      Founded 2021
      Founders:
      • Matt Weckel
    • Parhelion Studio Co.

      Parhelion Studio Co. builds anime-style live-service games for gamers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists, developing original IPs with original characters and world-building lore. The studio handles continuous post-launch updates and incorporates direct player feedback into development, replacing the traditional fixed-release model. It also maintains a global artist network capable of producing full anime short-form productions.

      parhelion.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Generative Media
      Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
      Team of 6
      Founded 2024
      Founders:
      • Andrew Yang
      • David Cai
      • Kevin Jeon
    • Plutus Labs

      Plutus Labs builds an AI-powered interactive simulation platform where users step inside self-generated story worlds, make choices, and shape outcomes in real time. Players describe a scenario, the platform builds a playable "World Sim" around it, and characters within that sim communicate directly with the user. The product replaces passive content consumption with personalized, decision-driven narrative play across genres from dark romance to sci-fi.

      plutus.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      AI Agents
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 18
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Karata Dasmahapatra
      • Shivanshu Tyagi
    • Qloud Games (Loftia)

      Loftia builds a cozy social MMO where players explore floating islands, farm using sustainable techniques, craft, and complete quests alongside friends and NPCs. The game targets players seeking a low-stress, community-driven online world, replacing the grind and combat loops of conventional MMOs with cooperative building, creature adoption, and neighbourhood-sharing. It is in development for PC via Steam Early Access.

      loftia.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      Location: Sydney, Australia
      Team of 26
      Founded 2022
      Founders:
      • Eric Mallon
      • Martina Qin
      • Michael Su
    • Quago

      Quago analyzes in-game device sensor data and player connectivity to give gaming studios detection and prediction capabilities that standard mobile measurement tools miss. On the fraud side, it identifies cheaters and fake traffic inflating user acquisition campaigns in real time. On the growth side, it predicts churn probability, skill level, and lifetime value from the first session, replacing manual review and guesswork with automated, privacy-safe signals.

      quago.io (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Adtech / Marketing Tech
      Gaming
      Cybersecurity
      Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
      Team of 9
      Founded 2022
      Founders:
      • Alon Dayan
      • Dan Blechner
      • Ran Arieli
    • Rivet

      Rivet builds open-source orchestration infrastructure for agentic workloads, serving developers who run AI agents at scale. Its core primitives, Actors, Workflows, Sandboxes, and Dynamic Apps, give each agent a durable process, a stateful execution environment, and a filesystem, replacing ad-hoc server setups and custom session management. Developers can self-host or use Rivet's cloud to deploy agents that persist across restarts and spin up in milliseconds.

      rivet.gg (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Dev Tools & DevOps
      AI Infra
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 5
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Nathaniel Flurry
      • Nicholas Kissel
    • StyleFrame

      StyleFrame builds a professional AI video toolkit for motion designers, animators, and VFX artists. It gives practitioners keyframe-based timeline control, motion referencing, restyle, and ink-and-paint tools, replacing manual in-betweening and iterative prompt-box workflows. Artists direct output using visuals and can revise any element after the fact without restarting a project.

      styleframe.ai (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Media / Entertainment / Creator Economy
      AI Models / Research
      AI Generative Media
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 12
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Rishi Pandey
      • Shaheel Mitra
    • Tractive

      Tractive builds AI tools that automate the technical preparation steps 3D artists must complete before an asset is usable in a game engine, covering mesh retopology, UV unwrapping, and rigging. The target users are character artists, environment artists, technical directors, and riggers who currently perform these steps by hand. Automating that work cuts the time from sculpt to game-ready asset by a factor of ten.

      tractive.ai (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Generative Media
      Location: London, United Kingdom
      Team of 3
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Chris Harding
      • Mohsan Alvi
    • videogame.ai

      videogame.ai builds games using a fully autonomous, agent-based production system modeled on a traditional game studio pipeline, with AI agents covering every specialty from coding to asset management. It targets game studios and publishers who need to ship titles and live-ops updates faster and at lower cost than a conventional development team. The product replaces the bulk of manual game development work, delivering a complete game build in three days at the cost of a single full-time employee.

      videogame.ai (opens in a new tab)
      Tags:
      Gaming
      AI Agents
      Location: San Francisco, California, USA
      Team of 7
      Founded 2023
      Founders:
      • Aaron Yuan

    About this data

    We list facts from a16z speedrun's public directory: names, websites, locations, team sizes, and founders. Company descriptions stay on the source; each company links to its original page.

    While a cohort is still filling, we check its roster every day, and each page shows the date of the last check. Companies that drop off the directory drop off the roster here too.

    Source: speedrun.a16z.com (opens in a new tab) GPAgent is not affiliated with Andreessen Horowitz or a16z speedrun.

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