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In what feels like a former life, I had a side hustle editing social media advertising copy for one of Vietnam’s better-known brands.
It was perhaps one of the more dull, repetitive jobs I’ve had. Every day, the ad agency would send the posts to me, and they followed the same structure virtually every time, with just slight variations.
There wasn’t much creativity involved, and it felt like a repetitive task – the kind that no one wants to waste time on. If I had access to something like ChatGPT back then, I certainly would have used it.
Some startups are building AI models to take on these kinds of tasks so humans can do more valuable and stimulating work.Reforged Labs, for instance, is focused on the gaming industry, helping studios create video ads more efficiently.
Read on to find out why its business model has scored almost US$4 million in funding for the Singapore-based firm.
Today we look at:
- How Reforged Labs hopes to revamp making ads for video games
- The close of Antler’s US$72 million SEA Fund II
- Other newsy highlights such as commission fee hikes at Shopee and India-based HealthCred’s latest fundraise
Premium summary
Reforged Labs generates funding with genAI play
Image credit: Timmy Loen
Reforged Labs has closed a US$3.9 million seed round led by DCM, a VC firm based in Silicon Valley.
The Singaporean startup aims to use generative AI to improve video ad creation for mobile games.
- Find the pain points: Reforged Labs initially planned to use genAI to help games studios create in-game content. However, it pivoted to video ads after co-founder Robert Huynh realized its initial approach didn’t tackle one of the biggest pain points of game developers: game marketing.
- Efficiency: While large studios can spend huge portions of their budgets on advertising and marketing, smaller firms lack the expertise or tools to compete. Reforged Labs hopes to automate a lot of repetitive tasks involved in creating ads for video game so teams can focus on more high-value work, Huynh told Tech in Asia.
- Jobs safe: The use of genAI in the gaming industry has been controversial. Some firms are facing copyright infringement disputes while creatives are some companies have been laid off. Huynh, however, stresses that Reforged Labs doesn’t want to replace jobs in the games industry. Instead, it wants to take on “the repetitive work that no one really wants to do, that’s outsourced already.”
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