# Nitrode

> Nitrode is a San Francisco AI research company building the evaluation, data, and post-training layer for game development. It started in Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch as a Godot-based AI game engine that let anyone prototype a 3D game in a day, then pivoted toward frontier research: it runs GameEngineBench, a benchmark that scores how well AI models handle real game-engine coding tasks, and produces expert-labeled datasets and reinforcement-learning environments (including Unreal Engine 5) for AI labs and enterprises. Nitrode's bet is that game development will be handled by systems of specialized models working together, not one general-purpose model.

- **Founded:** 2024
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Ben Kim (Co-Founder & CEO), Brian La (Co-Founder), Sejoon Chang (Co-Founder), Richard Gu (Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** 3-6
- **Products:** GameEngineBench, Data & RL environments (For Labs), Benchmarked AI tools (For Enterprises), Nitrode AI Game Engine, Mint
- **Notable:** Accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch, Raised a $1.8M round led by Rebel Fund with participation from Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital and others, Reached #3 Product of the Day on Product Hunt (July 2025) with its AI game engine

## Products & services

- **GameEngineBench** — A public benchmark and leaderboard that measures how well AI models perform on real game-engine coding tasks, including agentic C++ engine work, spatial reasoning, and tool-calling. Used to score frontier models against each other.
- **Data & RL environments (For Labs)** — Contractor-sourced, expert-labeled datasets and reinforcement-learning environments - including Unreal Engine 5 - that AI labs use for post-training models on game development tasks.
- **Benchmarked AI tools (For Enterprises)** — AI tooling validated against Nitrode's benchmarks and designed to slot into production game-development pipelines.
- **Nitrode AI Game Engine** — The original product: a Godot-based AI game engine that let developers prototype playable 3D games in a day, with an agentic assistant, a bird's-eye Canvas view, and AI generation of 2D sprites and 3D meshes from text. Launched on macOS; reached #3 on Product Hunt.
- **Mint** — A platform connecting game-development experts to create custom datasets and post-training data.

## Achievements

- Accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch
- Raised a $1.8M round led by Rebel Fund with participation from Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital and others
- Reached #3 Product of the Day on Product Hunt (July 2025) with its AI game engine
- Built and published GameEngineBench, a benchmark scoring frontier AI models on real game-engine tasks
- Produces Unreal Engine 5 datasets and RL environments used by AI labs

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Nitrode publishes GameEngineBench research and leaderboard results, with the top model scoring around 55% on real game-engine tasks.
- **2026** — Company positions itself as Nitrode Research - building the evaluation, data, and post-training layer, with offerings split For Labs and For Enterprises.
- **2025-07** — Launched the Nitrode AI game engine on macOS; hit #3 Product of the Day on Product Hunt.
- **2025-03** — Completed seed funding (round led by Rebel Fund) around the Y Combinator W25 batch.

## Links

- Website: https://nitrode.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nitrode
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/NitrodeResearch

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nitrode-yc-w25
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-30