Munich-based indie developer Welevel has raised $5.7 million in a funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures.
The studio said it will use the investment to support the development of its in-house AI platform, and to expand its core team “twofold” in preparation for its upcoming AAA sandbox survival game.
The untitled project has been in development since 2021 and is set to begin early access in 2026.
Additional investors include BMWK and Goodwater, alongside angel investors including Chris Carvalho (Roblox board member), Daniel Weinand (Shopify co-founder), Heiko Hubertz (Bigpoint founder), Kun Gao (Crunchyroll co-founder), Nate Mitchell (Oculus co-founder), Ralf Reichert (ESL co-founder), and Mario Götze.
“AAA development needs a massive amount of resources and budget which indie game studios usually do not have,” said Welevel CEO Christian Heimerl.
“Having used AI in my former companies, I recognised the potential it has to empower small, passionate teams to produce games.
“In the past four years, our team has engineered tools and an AI platform that allows us to not just rival AAA studios, but surpass them with a living, breathing world. With Bitkraft, we found a partner who shares our passion and vision.”
Bitkraft Ventures partner Jasper Brand added: “While it is a tall order for an emerging studio to take on AAA ambitions in a large genre, especially in the early stages of AI adoption in gaming, we believe that lean teams who rethink development and break current limitations in time and scope will unlock unprecedented gameplay and distribution vectors.
“Welevel, having established remarkable technological foundations over four years with only a handful of developers, is making creative decisions at rapid speed and marginal cost.”