#United States #San Francisco #AI Marketing #GIGR #Playad.ai

GIGR (Playad.ai) Secures Pre-Seed Funding to Transform Marketing Workflows

Introduction

San Francisco-based startup GIGR, commonly known as Playad.ai, has recently secured $5.4 million in a pre-seed funding round aimed at accelerating the development of innovative AI marketing solutions. The funding, led by BRV Capital Management and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, also saw participation from notable angel investors including Bora Chung and Jihun Yu. This funding is slated to propel GIGR's mission of streamlining the advertising creative process through advanced multi-agent AI systems.

The Challenge of Traditional Marketing Workflows

Marketing teams often face significant challenges in creating effective advertising content. The existing processes can be slow, fragmented, and costly. Conventional methods involve lengthy cycles of briefs, handoffs, and revisions before yielding insights that are often too late to inform immediate adjustments. GIGR aims to address these pain points by introducing a system that leverages AI to create, test, and iterate on advertisements with minimal manual intervention.

GIGR believes that the future of marketing lies in a revolutionary AI-centric workflow that transforms performance data into actionable insights, leading to continuous creative improvements. Their comprehensive approach encapsulates the entire creative lifecycle—from initial briefing and production to experimentation and measurement.

Launching with Playad's Interactive Ads

GIGR's flagship product, Playad, launched in Q3 of 2025, specifically targets interactive ads—the most promising signal in digital marketing today. Interactive advertising, especially within the gaming sector, has proven to enhance conversion rates while reducing cost per installation (CPI). These formats not only permit users to engage with the product interactively but also yield granular data on user interactions, thus fine-tuning the iteration process.

Before Playad, producing effective interactive ads was seen as complex and resource-intensive, often requiring specialized skills and substantial time investment. However, Playad simplifies this process, enabling marketing teams to leverage these dynamic formats efficiently and affordably, with quick turnaround times for experimentation and iteration.

Speed and Confidence in Marketing Decisions

One of the key advantages GIGR's Playad offers is its ability to significantly reduce production costs—by as much as 90% in some instances—while improving marketing acquisition efficiency. GIGR's approach emphasizes learning from every marketing initiative, ensuring that each campaign generates insights that inform the next. According to Jay Cho, CEO and co-founder of GIGR, the aim is not merely to produce more assets but to develop a comprehensive system that fosters learning and minimizes uncertainty in digital advertising decisions.

The Founding Team's Expertise

GIGR's founding team is composed of experienced professionals from both high-growth startups and major global technology firms. With a unique seven-founder structure, the team brings together diverse expertise, each founder focusing on specific aspects of creating a robust marketing ecosystem.

• - Jay Jaeyeon Cho (CEO): Previously led AI game studios at Bagelcode, contributing to its substantial growth. His background is firmly rooted in the relationship between games, AI, and performance marketing.
• - Steve Nam Hyuk Chung (Business Co-founder): Has a wealth of experience in investment banking and business development, having worked with companies like PlayStation and YouTube.
• - Jayden Hyun Jae Park (Engineering Co-founder): A tech lead with a track record in scaling AI products, bringing invaluable engineering expertise to the table.

Together, the founding team aims to dismantle existing marketing inefficiencies and install a dynamic, AI-driven creative workflow.

Conclusion

GIGR (Playad.ai) is poised to redefine digital marketing through innovative AI technologies and efficient workflows that emphasize continuous learning and adaptability. As they embark on this journey fueled by their recent funding, the marketing landscape may see a significant shift towards more data-driven and efficient advertising practices. To learn more about their initiatives, visit Playad.ai.