London-based studio Scriptic has raised a total of $6.2 million in its second seed funding round. The round included the participation of Sony subsidiary Sony Investment Fund.

The investment brings the total seed round to $8.7 million, following a June investment involving the participation of major investors such as Amazon Alexa Fund.

Scriptic focuses on the development of phone-first interactive stories which are “efficient to produce, easily scalable, and highly accessible to consumers”. The company was an early adopter of generative AI in story-based media, and previously published Scriptic: Crime Stories on Netflix, generating over 1.5 million installs and earning a BAFTA nomination.

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“Scriptic is emerging as a front-runner in the future of interactive entertainment, and we are excited to be partnering with the team for the next chapter of their growth journey in an area where we see tremendous opportunity,” said Sony Ventre Corporation managing director of the EU Antonio Avitabile. “Scriptic’s highly scalable, efficient and sophisticated mobile-first approach pushes the boundaries of interactive content, and we believe the company’s UGC offering has the potential to take this further by empowering the creativity of millions of everyday storytellers.”

“It’s a huge honour to have Sony Innovation Fund join our roster of stellar investors, and we’re thrilled that they share our vision for the future of interactive media and storytelling,” added Scriptic CEO and co-founder Nihal Thahoor.

Founded as Electricnoir, Scriptic’s catalogue of titles “simulate the interactive world of smartphones and apps, and reflect people’s digital lives. Tharoor and co-founder and CCO Benedict Tatham brought together a creative team from the worlds of both games and TV, allowing it to utilise cross-medium experience in its gaming platform.

Scriptic will use the investment to grow its content pipeline of “interactive, phone-based shows”, as well as activating its user generated content strategy, giving external writers and storytellers access to the company’s AI-powered creative tools.

In July, we spoke to Tharoor about the use of AI in game development.