Scriptic, a startup developing interactive mobile entertainment and creative applications for generative AI, has added $5.7m (£4.5m) to its seed round.
Formally known as ElectricNoir, Scriptic is a London-based startup that produces what it describes as “phone-first” shows, which are dramas designed to be viewed on mobile devices with interactive elements.
Scriptic is looking to combine the audiences of TV dramas and gaming by merging the elements consumers enjoy about the mediums into its content.
The firm uses generative AI tools to develop its content. The company said that ChatGPT and image generation tool DALL-E, both created by OpenAI, have been used to produce content.
“We created Scriptic with the aim of entertaining the world with stories that reflect our ever-changing digital lives,” said Nihal Tharoor, co-founder and CEO of Scriptic.
“By bringing together a hugely talented creative team, our proprietary tech offering and a host of cutting-edge generative AI technologies, we’ve been able to create immersive stories that really resonate with audiences, purpose-built for the most interactive medium there is – our phones.”
The company plans to expand into a user-generated content platform by putting AI story-creation tools into the hands of curated audience members.
“We’re excited about building out our pipeline of interactive shows across new and existing IPs, opening up our community for user-generated content, and taking the next step in our ambitious company journey.”
The latest funding brings the total amount raised in Scriptic’s seed round to $8.2m (£6.5m).
The round was led by BITKRAFT Ventures and featured participation from Tower 26 and the Amazon Alexa Fund.
“By providing users with a true sense of agency by shaping their own interactive narratives, Scriptic redefines the boundaries of immersive experiences and interactive storytelling leveraging a unique AI-based production pipeline,” said Malte Barth, founding general partner at BITKRAFT Ventures.
“We are excited to back the team at Scriptic as they usher in a new category of entertainment by blending game mechanics, AI, virtual influencers, storytelling, and compelling user-generated content on smartphones and multiple social media services.”
Other attempts to create short-form mobile streaming content have failed to take off. Quibi, an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices, shut down in less than a year – although it was not using AI to generate content.