Iconic Raises $13M for AI-Native Gaming

In December 2025, the London-based gaming studio Iconic raised $13 million in a Seed funding round. The investment was led by HodlCo, with participation from Hack VC, FOV Ventures, and a syndicate of former DeepMind executives.

The company is led by CEO Fazri Zubair, a former DeepMind product lead. Iconic is pioneering the concept of “AI-Native” games that run entirely on-device.

Most current AI games rely on cloud-based Large Language Models (LLMs), which introduce latency and massive inference costs, making them unviable for consumer scale. Iconic addresses this by building proprietary Small Language Models (SLMs) optimized to run locally on mobile processors (NPUs). This allows for instant, voice-driven interactions with NPCs and dynamic storylines that generate in real-time without needing an internet connection, effectively replacing the traditional “button-mashing” controller with natural conversation.

The new capital will be used to expand its R&D team in London and prepare for the launch of its debut title, which promises to demonstrate the power of local generative game engines.

Market Signal

• The “Edge Inference” Moat: This $13M seed validates the industry’s desperate need to move AI off the cloud. For gaming to reach billions of users, the “cost per token” must be zero. Iconic’s on-device approach shifts the compute cost from the developer (Cloud GPU) to the user (Phone NPU), fixing the unit economics of AI gaming.
• Voice as the New Controller: We are witnessing a UI shift from “Graphical Interfaces” (Buttons/Joysticks) to “Natural Interfaces” (Voice). Iconic is betting that the next “Angry Birds” moment won’t be about physics, but about social interaction with intelligent virtual characters.
• DeepMind Mafia: The heavy involvement of DeepMind alumni signals that London continues to be the epicenter for applying “AGI-adjacent” research to consumer products. It suggests Iconic’s tech stack is built on fundamental model architecture innovations rather than just wrapping off-the-shelf cloud APIs.

Key Details

• Company: Iconic
• Funding: $13M Seed
• Headquarters: London, UK
• Lead Investor: HodlCo
• Founder: Fazri Zubair (ex-DeepMind)
• Use Case: On-device generative gaming and voice-driven NPCs