Floaty Secures $1M from Merak Capital for Saudi Mobile Gaming

Floaty Studio, a rising Riyadh-based mobile game developer founded in 2023, has secured $1 million USD in a new funding round led by Saudi venture capital firm Merak Capital. Deployed through the dedicated Merak Gaming Fund, this fresh financial boost will help the young studio scale its development infrastructure, expand its creative team, and accelerate work on a slate of casual mobile titles designed for players worldwide.

The injection of capital marks a major turning point for Floaty Studio, supporting its transition from a small regional startup into a scalable game development house. The team is currently hard at work on two flagship mobile titles that aim to capture a global audience. The first is Pirasea, an engaging tactical pirate strategy game, and the second is Hero Squad, a high-energy sci-fi action experience where players assemble specialized squads to battle hordes of robotic enemies.

These ambitious projects build upon the momentum of PLATE, a casual mobile title created during the studio's initial incubator days. By focusing on the growing hybrid-casual genre, the developer is betting on a winning formula: approachable, pick-up-and-play mechanics combined with deep, long-term progression systems designed to keep players engaged over months and years.

Floaty Studio’s creative and commercial journey was heavily shaped by its graduation from NEOM’s Level Up Accelerator program. The incubator provided the founders with critical, hands-on mentorship in game production, user acquisition, and monetization before they were ready to step into institutional venture funding. Today, the studio is fulfilling its stated mission to craft accessible, heart-filled games from Riyadh while helping put Saudi Arabia on the global gaming map.

Merak Capital’s $80M Gaming Fund & Regional Innovation

Representatives from Merak Capital noted that the $1M investment reflects their strong confidence in Floaty Studio’s product vision, creative execution, and the rapid emergence of Saudi Arabia as a premier hub for gaming entrepreneurship, as per Pocketgamer.biz. 

This latest deal is part of Merak Capital’s wider, data-backed campaign to fund early-stage regional gaming innovation. The investment is drawn from the $80M Merak Gaming Fund, which was established in late 2024 with financial backing from the Saudi National Development Fund. The investment in Floaty Studio follows a series of active funding rounds by the firm, including a $480,000 pre-seed investment in gaming technology startup Qwacks in 2025. Earlier this year, Merak also invested $600,000 in UAE-based developer Khosouf Studio to support its expansion and strategic relocation to Saudi Arabia.

Interestingly, these direct studio investments operate independently from Merak Capital’s own Exel by Merak gaming accelerator program, showing how different incubation and funding pathways are maturing across the region. Through its inaugural Exel cohort, the firm has already deployed $5.1M across 17 startups, injecting $300,000 in equity funding into each individual company. 

Highlighting the rapid growth of the local ecosystem, Exel has since become the first gaming accelerator to join the prestigious Riyadh Creative District, with its third cohort currently underway. Together, these deliberate venture investments and structured incubator programs are fueling a new generation of Middle Eastern developers ready to compete on the world stage and support Saudi Arabia's push to become a global gaming powerhouse by 2030.