Behind the investment: A conversation with Nuno Leiria, Founder & CEO at Nilo

We are always on the lookout for teams building category-defining games and game tech. So, naturally, Nilo’s ingenious approach to game creation won us over.

To hear more about what Nilo is working on and where they are heading next, we sat down with Founder & CEO Nuno Leiria:

Inside Nilo

We started with a simple question: how would you explain what Nilo does to a friend who’s never heard of it?

"Nilo is a platform where anyone can create 3D worlds and games instantly using just text, images, or voice. Think of it like digital Legos, but powered by AI. You can drag in a photo, and it becomes a 3D character you can play with. You can describe a world, and it gets built for you. Then you can share it with friends through a simple link. We're making game creation as easy and fun as playing a game itself!" says Nuno.

Nuno notes Nilo’s approach to game creation is more important now than ever because making games is way too hard—and we couldn’t agree more.

There are so many incredible ideas out there, and so many aspiring creators who want to express their creativity and imagination. But for every creator who actually turns their dreams into reality, countless others get blocked by technical barriers. Platforms like Roblox require you to learn coding, 3D modeling, and animation, plus navigate complex interfaces, just to build one experience. Nilo is solving this by making 3D creation intuitive, collaborative, and joyful. With AI advancing so quickly, and a whole generation having grown up in 3D environments like Minecraft, Nuno believes this is the perfect moment to think from first principles about how social 3D creation should work.

Nuno points out that what makes Nilo different from others who are building in the social 3D creation space is that while other platforms may allow you to create 3D content with text, only Nilo enables you to have fun while doing it. It doesn't feel like a tool; it feels like a game. You're creating with your friends, and you have the instant feedback and reward from seeing your ideas come to life. Nilo also works on any PC, laptop, or phone browser without downloads or installs, so you can create and play anywhere.

Why this investment was the perfect play

Nilo’s work is truly impressive and backing them just felt like the right move—a perfect play. As our Head of Investments Jaakko Harlas’ puts it: "Their approach to making game creation as enjoyable as gameplay itself really stood out. Nilo has the potential to open up game development to a whole new generation of builders".

The partnerships we build with our investees are always two-sided. For Nilo, choosing us as a partner came down to timing and alignment—raising funds now allowed them to accelerate their ambitions, and they felt Supercell's experience could add real value on that journey.

Nuno put it this way: "Supercell understands better than anyone how to build experiences that bring people together and keep them engaged for years. Their expertise in community-driven gaming perfectly aligns with our vision of social creation."

As for the timing, Nuno says that Nilo has witnessed this incredible convergence happening—WebAssembly and WebGPU making browsers powerful enough for 3D content, generative AI making creation accessible to everyone, and a whole generation growing up and socializing in 3D, ready to express their creativity. So, they gathered a world-class team and built a product people love. This funding round will help Nilo to scale and bring their game creation platform to every aspiring builder. And we can’t wait!

What’s next for Nilo & the game industry?

Which brings us to what’s next for Nilo. Nuno is most excited about unleashing the creativity of an entire generation of creators. Nilo is in closed early access now, and for him, seeing young creators and parents already deeply engaged with what they’ve built is incredible. Internally, the team is focused on perfecting that core creation experience, making sure those first few hours are intuitive, engaging, and fun before they layer on more advanced features for professional developers.

Nilo puts multiplayer at the heart of creation. According to Nuno, co-creation matters to Nilo because creation has always been social—artists collaborate, musicians jam together, writers share drafts. But game development is so complex that creators have been stuck in an isolated, technical process. Nilo is bringing the social element back. Figma is a good example of the benefits of co-creation. And when creation feels like play, people naturally want to do it together and share it with others, similar to creating with Legos.

In the next five years, Nuno thinks we'll see communities forming around shared creative visions. Perhaps we will even see hundreds of people contributing to creating a world in real-time!

In the past, Nuno has described Nilo as "creation at the speed of culture". To break down what this means in practice for creators, Nuno drew an example from the last AI in Gaming mixer by Supercell Investments and, A16Z GAMES event in San Francisco he joined.

"While presenting Nilo, I took a photo of Otto (Söderlund), Supercell's AI lead, with my phone, which automatically turned Otto into a 3D model in seconds. I then animated Otto's 3D model, and he was running, jumping, and dancing in front of everyone—it was hilarious. Imagine being able to create an interactive experience as soon as the latest Ghibli trend or Coldplay Jumbotron moment happens, and then instantly share it with a link. That's the magic: creators can immediately build worlds and experiences like this, much faster than any previous platform has allowed," explains Nuno.

As a founder of an AI-native game creation platform, we had to gauge Nuno’s take on how AI is changing not just game development, but creativity as a whole.

"Nilo was built from the ground up to be AI-native. We've always thought of Nilo as an Iron Man suit for game development. Developers' creativity, ideas, and passion continue to be the driving force, and Nilo helps them execute faster, more efficiently, and with more fun and delight. Beyond games, I think AI will democratize all forms of creative expression. The technical barriers that have kept people from pursuing their creative visions are disappearing. We're moving toward a future where your imagination is the only limit, not your technical skills".

From Nuno, to fellow founders

To wrap up, we asked Nuno what one piece of advice he’d like to pass on to a founder walking a similar path.

"Focus relentlessly on making something people genuinely want, need, and love using, not just something that solves a problem on paper. We could have built a more traditional game engine with AI features bolted on, but instead, we reimagined the entire experience around joy and accessibility. That decision to prioritize delight over convention has shaped everything we do. Also, make sure to surround yourself with world-class talent and curate a great network of friends and advisors. The right people can help you see further into the future and bring insights and support you couldn’t get any other way," shares Nuno.

Again, a big welcome to Nuno and the whole Nilo team! We can’t wait to see all the ways you’ll shake up game creation as we know it.