LONDON — London-based startup ManaMind has secured $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round to develop autonomous artificial intelligence agents for video game quality assurance, the company said. Sure Valley Ventures led the financing for the firm, which builds software designed to automate routine testing workflows and reduce costs for producers.
Sure Valley Ventures led the investment to back early-stage technology companies, allocating a portion of the $1.5 million. ManaMind plans to direct the capital toward expanding its engineering team, enhancing its core product offerings, and accelerating its entry into the commercial market over multiple years.
Video game development teams typically rely on manual testing methods to discover bugs, graphical errors, and progression blockers before a finished title reaches retail shelves, according to ManaMind. That traditional process requires employing large teams of workers to play through unfinished code builds repeatedly over many months. ManaMind builds software designed to run these routine testing workflows automatically, aiming to improve testing accuracy while reducing the financial costs tied to manual playtesting operations.
Autonomous agents provide a faster turnaround time for software testing cycles, helping development studios push out better products for consumers who demand polished releases. The global gaming industry continues to expand into a busy field, increasing the daily pressure on producers to ship titles on strict schedules without sacrificing technical stability, ManaMind said. Production budgets climb and development cycles stretch over multiple years, prompting studios to search for practical ways to shorten production pipelines.
ManaMind has not disclosed the names of any game studios currently testing the software, and company executives have not published a specific calendar date for the commercial rollout. Financial terms of the $1.5 million pre-seed investment remain private, the company confirmed in its statement.
