Studio555 announced today that it has raised €4 million, or about $4.6 million in a seed funding round. It plans to put this funding towards creating a playable app, a game-like experience focused on interior design. HOF Capital and Failup Ventures led the round, with participation from the likes of Timo Soininen, co-founder of Small Giant Games; Mikko Kodisoja, co-founder of Supercell; and Riccardo Zacconi, co-founder of King.
Studio555’s founders include entrepreneur Joel Roos, now the CEO, CTO Stina Larsson and CPO Axel Ullberger. The latter two formerly worked at King on the development of Candy Crush Saga. According to these founders, the app in development combines interior design with the design and consumer appeal of games and social apps. Users can create and design personal spaces without needing any technical expertise.
The team plans to launch the app next year, and it plans to put its seed funding towards product development and growing its team. Roos said in a statement, “At Studio555, we’re reimagining interior design as something anyone can explore: open-ended, playful, and personal. We’re building an experience we always wished existed: a space where creativity is hands-on, social, and free from rigid rules. This funding is a major step forward in setting an entirely new category for creative expression.”
Investor Timo Soininen said in a statement, “Studio555 brings together top-tier gaming talent and design vision. This team has built global hits before, and now they’re applying that experience to something completely fresh – think Pinterest in 3D meets TikTok, but for interiors. I’m honored to support Joel and this team with their rare mix of creativity, technical competence, and focus on execution.”
Making a playable experience for interior design
Roos later told GamesBeat in an interview that the idea was to create a Pinterest-like experience. “My first pitch was that I can bring interior design lovers, both on the company side and consumer side and hear what they think and what they want. The core values of our project are inspiration, creativity and self-education. At the moment there is no digital home for people who love interiors. They’re hanging out on real estate sites dreaming of houses they could buy. They’re hanging out on social media from Instagram to TikTok to Pinterest. There isn’t really any place where they feel at home. We want to integrate them into this project.”
Ullberger added, “The sweet spot for our product lies in the marriage between two industries… We want the interior design enthusiasts on Pinterest to love our product. That means we have to format ourselves in a way where we look pretty, we look elegant, but we still have the playful aspects of expression. We have a more design-led approach, which I think is super important.”
Larsson noted to GamesBeat that this project also provides a platform for those who fall into the “casual” gaming audience or even those who don’t identify as gamers at all. “I’ve spoken with a lot of my friends that do not game at all, and when I talked about this genre that I didn’t know existed they were like, ‘Oh, but if there were this kind of game, I would play it.’ So for me, it feels like there are lots of people out there that haven’t really found the kind of game for them. We’re not just building a game, we’re building something else. It’s more of a playable app or experience.”