Jest Raises $7M Seed Funding to Build Marketplace for Messaging Games
Jest just pulled off something that makes the App Store look a little… dated. $7M in seed funding. Led by Innovation Endeavors. Backed with conviction, not vibes. And if you read between the lines, this is not just a capital raise. This is a distribution rebellion wrapped in a messaging thread.
Congratulations to Deyan Vitanov, CEO and Co-Founder of Jest, for stepping into the arena with a model that feels obvious in hindsight and dangerous in practice. When something is obvious and dangerous at the same time, you pay attention.
Jest is building a marketplace for messaging games. Not games you download. Not games you update. Games that live where conversations already happen. Messaging threads. RCS pipes. Browser-based gameplay launched from a link that feels as casual as a text and hits like a product decision with teeth.
By the end of January, just 4 months into beta, over 1M game sessions had been played and more than 300K messages exchanged on the platform. That is not theoretical traction. That is fingers on glass, thumbs in motion.
Early partner titles are reporting day-7 retention that is 3–4x higher than traditional mobile apps. User acquisition costs are down 30%–60% compared to classic app distribution. Developers keep 90% of revenue, with Jest subsidizing messaging costs. If you have ever paid the toll booth tax of 30%+, you can feel the shift in your bones.
Innovation Endeavors saw it early. Dror Berman, Founder and Managing Partner, is not in the habit of leading rounds for novelty. This is infrastructure thinking. Messaging is no longer just chatter. It is surface area. It is distribution. It is where attention already rents an apartment.
Jest is also putting money where its thesis is. The Jest Games Fund is designed to seed an ecosystem, with structured support that scales from exploratory projects up to serious capital for flagship titles. That is how you cultivate gravity. You do not just invite developers to the party. You underwrite the dance floor.
Zoom out for a second. Mobile game downloads declined 8.6% year over year in 2025. RCS is pushing over 1B messages per day in the United States alone. One channel is cooling. The other is humming like a live wire. Jest decided to plug in.
This is what happens when you stop asking how to compete inside the store and start asking whether the store is the right room. Messaging becomes the lobby, the arcade, the checkout counter. Conversation becomes conversion.
San Francisco has seen a few platform plays before. Most of them fight for space. Jest is choosing flow instead. If retention is higher, acquisition is cheaper, and developers keep more, the math starts to whisper.