The founding team, comprising Mustafa Fırtına, Mehmet Çalım, and Bekir Batuhan Çelebi, brings a wealth of experience from their roles at Good Job Games and Moon Active, where they contributed to the development of popular titles like Zen Match and Wonder Blast. Collectively, they are credited with amassing over one billion installs across their previous projects.

“We saw how fragmented mobile game development had become and took the opportunity to build a radically different company to what we were seeing in the market. The majority of mobile games created now are often poorly executed copies of successful titles, and we see an opportunity to build a billion-dollar business made possible by adopting the latest AI technology which is helping us build and iterate games faster. Swift execution combined with innovation will be what separates us from other companies,” said Bekir Batuhan Çelebi, Co-Founder and CEO.

Grand Games is redefining mobile game development by utilising AI to generate up to 30% of each game’s codebase and employing platforms like Midjourney for art concept creation. This innovative approach significantly reduces the time required to develop and publish games, allowing Grand to build, test, and iterate at a pace unmatched by its competitors. By accelerating the feedback loop from players, Grand aims to be the fastest learning and iterating company in the gaming industry.

In addition to this rapid execution, Grand is integrating luck and social competition features into new games and genres. This strategy enhances the emotional connection gamers have with their titles, improving the overall player experience. Grand Games aims to surpass smaller, less sophisticated publishers, securing a leading position in the fragmented mobile gaming market, which is currently valued at over $100 billion.

Grand’s first title, Magic Sort!, has soft-launched in the US and is available for download on both iOS and Android. Their second game, Car Match, is set to soft launch in early July. Following these releases, Grand will focus on its flagship title, centred on social interaction, expected to debut in early 2025.

Turkey has emerged as a global hub for mobile gaming, with a robust ecosystem and notable success stories such as Dream Games and Peak Games, Turkey's first unicorn, which Zynga acquired for $1.8 billion in June 2020. The investment in Grand Games represents Earlybird's first gaming investment since Peak, signalling confidence in Turkey's thriving gaming industry.

Oguzhan Ozer from Earlybird Digital East Fund, said about the investment: “It’s been a great pleasure to closely witness the stellar development of Turkey’s gaming ecosystem for more than a decade, to become a leading global hub, especially after Peak’s exit. We are quite selective investors, and knowing the challenges of the market with the insider view, have approached it cautiously. What set Grand Games apart and convinced us was the team quality and their vision, and we are very excited to support them in their journey”.

Görkem Türk from Laton Ventures stated: “As Laton Ventures, we have full confidence that Grand Games, with a visionary founding team that has developed successful games on a global scale, will write new success stories. We are very excited about being a part of and helping this unique journey.”

Grand Games plans to use the investment to grow their team size and launch their initial titles. Having grown the team from four to thirteen full-time employees in just five months, Grand Games continues to search for passionate people that share the desire to reshape the gaming landscape across all functions including product, marketing, art and development.