A Kyiv-based startup called Zibra AI is among the 32 participants — out of 1,600 applicants — in the first batch of Speedrun. Launched recently by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), this accelerator aims to stimulate entrepreneur-led innovation in the gaming industry, which is often dominated by large companies.
The Silicon Valley venture firm has committed up to $75 million to fund the accelerated startups.
Zebra AI got its share, receiving $500,000 to kick off its seed round. This brings the total amount it raised so far to $2.5 million, the media reported.
“We were immediately impressed with the Zibra AI team’s ability to solve some of the most challenging technical problems in computer graphics,” a16z Investment Partner Troy Kirwin said in a statement.
Founded in 2021, Zibra AI touts itself as “a Ukrainian deep-tech company building a platform for creating AI-generated assets for any virtual world and experience.” The startup wants to “revolutionize the development pipeline,” helping game developers create interactive VFX and generate 3D assets while enabling gamers to enjoy new gaming titles more frequently.”
Several other Ukrainian or Ukrainian-founded startups developing AI products raised funds recently. Among them are Awesomic (designer-to-client matching platform), Mark (med tech), Osavul (against online disinformation) and Preply (online tutoring platform).
