Wavedash has raised $4.3 million to bring high-end PC games to the web browser.
Wavedash is a new gaming platform that lets people play high-quality PC games in their web browser. No launcher, no large download, and no special hardware are required. You just click a link and start playing the game.
The founders built Wavedash after years of feeling stuck in the old model: games that take hours to download, and painful updates that leave friends waiting around before anyone can actually play together. In a world where powerful chips, bandwidth, and modern browsers are everywhere, that no longer makes sense. That’s the gaming of yesterday. Wavedash is built for tomorrow, the company said.
The company is launching its public beta with Parking Garage Rally Circuit DX, a new arcade-style racing game from indie developer Walaber, known for Jellycar Worlds and Replicube. Players click a link to jump into a race in seconds and can share that same link so friends can join the lobby from their own devices.
“We want playing a PC game to feel as frictionless as opening a website,” said Kyler Blue, cofounder and CEO of Wavedash, in a statement. “Click a link and you’re playing.”
“The best thing about the web is how easy it is to share a link,” said Walaber. “A new premium distribution platform that removes as many barriers as possible for potential players? Count me in!”
This experience is now possible because everyday devices are much faster and browsers have become much better at graphics. Technologies like WebGL, WebGPU, and WebAssembly, combined with recent changes in Chrome and Safari and the power of Apple’s M-series and A-series chips, mean modern laptops and phones can deliver performance that used to require a dedicated gaming PC or console.
“Inflections are the strongest forces startups can harness to create breakthroughs, and Wavedash is squarely in the path of many that will define the future of gaming.” said lead investor Mike Maples, Jr., in a statement “WebGPU and WebAssembly are enabling capabilities we’ve been tracking for years and the future Wavedash is building is starting to feel inevitable.”
Maples Jr. of Floodgate (an early investor in Twitch, Lyft, and Twitter) led the round, with participation from Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Brainstorm Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, and others including founders of YouTube, Speak, Tenor, and Varda Space Industries.
“For developers, our goal is simple. One link that lets anyone play your game in seconds. That’s it.” said Blue.
“I think the magic is WebGPU. It won’t make it such that you can play any game on any machine, but most games you can play on the web, and instantly instead of downloading the whole file. In today’s era where we can’t be bothered to wait, that’s a big deal,” said Raymond George Kennedy, Wavedash CTO, in a statement.
Key Facts
– Instant play: Click a link and a PC game opens in your browser in seconds.
– Easy multiplayer: The same link works as a lobby invite for friends.
– No installs: No launcher, no huge downloads, no special hardware.
– Launch title: Parking Garage Rally Circuit DX by indie developer Walaber.
– Developer-friendly: Creators keep control of their games and receive a favorable revenue share.
– Funding: $4.3M seed led by Floodgate’s Mike Maples Jr., with support from Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Brainstorm Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, and other investors including Jawed Karim (Co-Founder of YouTube).
Blue previously designed the GIF Keyboard app and helped build Tenor (acquired by Google) into one of the world’s largest search and content ecosystems, used billions of times per day.
Matt Portner, cofounder and chief creative officer, was previously founder of DefendTheHouse, a 700,000-subscriber YouTube gaming channel. Formerly at Snap and BuzzFeed, with VFX credits in television and film. Longtime collaborator of George.
Raymond George Kennedy, cofounder and CTO, is a two-time Y Combinator founder. He previously founded an online tutoring marketplace (acquired by GoFundMe) and a live audio streaming platform with Portner. Blue and Kennedy met in the freshman dorms at Stanford University, where Kennedy was one of the first engineers working on the alpha prototpype of the GIF Keyboard that Blue designed.
The public beta starts today.