Mobile game developer Studio 42 announced this week that it has raised $3.6 million in funding to help develop both its first title and its studio structure. Play Ventures led the round, with GEM Capital and Arcadia Gaming Partners participating. Studio 42’s team of 14 people in four countries, include combined previous experience working with Belka Games, Snap Inc., Playrix and Game Insight.

Alexander Bogdanov, Studio 42 CEO, said in a statement, “We are excited to partner with Play Ventures, GEM Capital, and Arcadia Gaming Partners and take the next step in our journey. Their support allows us to focus on what we do best — creating simple yet deeply engaging experiences. We believe that genius lies in simplicity, and together, we are ready to bring fresh ideas to the puzzle genre.”

According to Studio 42, its debut title is a game with core puzzle mechancs in the vein of the founders’ previous projects with “a modern hybrid-casual approach.” The studio also said that it plans to work on a fast-iteration model, which relies on AI to test out product hypotheses, with a goal of evaluating up to 10 such ideas each year.

Henric Suuronen, founding partner at Play Ventures, said, “We’re thrilled to back Aleksandr, Ivan, Pavel, and the incredible team they’ve brought together at Studio 42. From the start, we were aligned on their vision — reimagining core puzzle mechanics through a hybrid-casual lens, with live ops as a strategic driver. Their track record speaks for itself, and we couldn’t be prouder to support them.”