Roblox world-building start-up Élisa Interactive raises $875,000

A Montréal start-up backed by father-son founders has raised $875,000 to help anyone build worlds inside Roblox, the video game platform with 151 million daily active users.

Élisa Interactive, founded by François and Julien Bélanger, closed a pre-seed round from AQC Capital, Anges Québec, Investissement Québec's Eurêka Fund, and angel investors. The company's tool, called Me-Z-Scene, lets a user describe what they want in a game world – a castle or a village – and the AI arranges existing building blocks to match.

François Bélanger compared the tool to a Playmobil set in an interview with BetaKit. "You can follow the instructions and make what is in the box but, most of the time, what you want to do is create your own world," he said.

The tool was originally built for professional game studios to cut the "drudge work" of 3D scene creation. Bélanger told BetaKit the company found that route meant customizing the technology for each client. That led to a pivot: enable non-professionals to build their own worlds inside Roblox, a platform built almost entirely on user-generated content with seven million "experiences" available.

"That's something you can't do in Roblox without … a lot of developer skills," Bélanger said.

Me-Z-Scene is currently being tested by fewer than 100 users. A full launch is planned for the fall, with pricing based on credit usage. The exact model is not yet final. Bélanger said he expects the target audience will pay to build custom worlds.

"People go [on Roblox] to get together and have fun online, and that's what we're betting on," he said. "We're not promising them that they're going to make tons of money and everything; we're promising them [they will] have fun with their friends in their own custom environment."

Élisa Interactive's push into Roblox mirrors a broader shift in gaming toward user-generated content. The company has also flagged potential expansion into other UGC-driven games such as Minecraft or Fortnite.