Startup of the Day: Fungies.io, Polish no-code platform for indie gaming studios

Fungies.io, the developer of a no-code SaaS platform for indie gaming studios, was founded in 2022 by Duke Vu and Wojciech Harzowski. The startup’s team is based in Poland with an office in Palo Alto, California. The startup builds a gaming commerce platform enabling game studios to establish their own web shops, and sell games to players without intermediaries like Steam. Fungies.io has 3000 customers in the database including 1000 studios and developers. In August this year, the company closed a $850,000 pre-seed round.

In the Startup of the Day column, Duke Vu, the CEO & co-founder of Fungies.io, shares more details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.

“The Startup of the Day column on AIN.Capital is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originated from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.”

Tell us about your startup. How does it work?

As Shopify is to e-commerce, Fungies.io will be to gaming. Given more than 3.22 billion people worldwide play games, the video games market worldwide, with a growth rate of 7.89% between 2023 and 2027, will reach a market volume of $521.6 billion in 2027. Small game studios, lacking dedicated marketing departments and comprising fewer than 10 employees, often resort to self-publishing on platforms such as Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com.

Fungies.io was founded to fix that. It’s a no-code SaaS platform to allow indie gaming studios to set up their own customizable Web Storefront in minutes. The company will create self-publishing commerce tools that allow game developers to effortlessly establish their own Web Shops, enabling direct game sales to players without intermediaries like Steam.

How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?

In 2016, my journey with gaming studios commenced with the establishment of iMeshup.com. During this venture, a noteworthy correlation became evident between game developers/publishers and digital distribution platforms such as Steam.

Building upon this insight, in 2021, I embarked on a new venture, UltiArena.com. This platform serves as an NFT marketplace, empowering game artists to tokenize their creative pieces on the Blockchain.

This led to the birth of Fungies.io. The driving force behind this endeavor was the observation that developers and publishers often found themselves constrained to established distribution platforms like Steam, AppStore, or PlayStore.

The solution was clear – to provide studios with an alternative sales channel, one that they could call their own, through the creation of personalized Web Shops. This approach not only mitigates the dependency on a limited set of platforms but also introduces a novel dimension to the checkout experience.

How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?

In February 2023, we laid the foundation of our first MVP tailored for Web3 games. However, our course shifted swiftly to Web2 gaming in the aftermath. The entire trajectory from conceptualizing our project to its launch spanned a mere six months.

Our initial brainchild aimed to expedite the setup of NFT Marketplaces for any Web3 game. We engineered a whitelabel-as-a-service platform that enables these marketplaces to materialize within minutes, bypassing the need for extensive months-long development cycles and exorbitant financial investments.

It’s crucial to note that we’re not vying directly with Steam; instead, our platform empowers game studios to extract value from their existing web traffic by directly vending Steam keys to players.

Beyond key distribution, our platform also offers an intuitive no-code website builder that facilitates the rapid creation of game-specific websites. Additionally, we assume the role of Merchant of Record for all transactions. This encompasses the management of chargebacks, international tax collection, and filing processes, thereby further streamlining the operational landscape for game studios utilizing our platform.

When exactly did you launch your product? Or when the launch is planned?

Our Web3 platform is currently operational, boasting an active customer base that is already generating revenue. Transitioning from this, we are set to launch the Web2 version by the end of September. This move required a significant overhaul of our infrastructure, given our previous exclusive focus on Web3 gaming.

Tell us about the stratup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?

Operating as a Freemium SaaS enterprise, we incorporate a percentage-based fee from the overall sales volume. The pricing structure hinges on the chosen plan: the PRO plan, offering a spectrum of game keys and distribution choices, carries a monthly fee of $19, while the more comprehensive BUSINESS plan is priced at $99 per month.

In terms of transactional charges, our commission ranges from 5.9% in the Enterprise plan to 7.9% in the Free Plan. Our revenue projection revolves predominantly around the accruing commissions from the sales.

What are your target markets and consumers?

Our sights are now firmly set on the PC Games market – a landscape primarily commanded by distribution giants like Steam, with a smattering of presence on platforms such as Epic Games Store and GOG.com. There are approximately 50,000 game studios and publishers that actively launch games on Steam, not to mention the countless solo developers crafting indie gems for the same platform. This bustling community constitutes the heart of our target demographic.

If the startup has already launched the product, what are the results: metrics, income, or any clear indicators that can be evaluated.

We’re yet to launch the Web2 version of product but we already boast paying customers from Web3 – 11 paying customers. We have also garnered 3000 customers in the database including 1000 studios and developers that have joined our waitlist for Web2 product launch. We have around 30000 monthly visitors.

Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, the purpose of the investment.

Among our investors are Czechfounders.VC, Depo Ventures, Outlier Ventures, CV VC, StartupYard, Tatum, and NectoLabs. They’ve helped us score a $850,000 in a pre-seed round.

What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.

So, what’s our game plan? We’re honing in on crafting the ultimate gaming commerce platform for publishers and developers. We’re not just stopping at a cool website builder – we’re going all out with mobile in-game checkouts, slick payment processing, seamless 3rd party app integrations, and even top-notch analytics and marketing tools. We’re here to supercharge game sales across all devices and channels