Guide Startups

PlayAbly

Summer 2019 · Active

We build games to help brands engage, convert, and retain customers

Founded: 2022

Team size: 5

About

PlayAbly turns ignored touchpoints into mini-games that capture attention, drive action, and generate real-time first-party data—across eCommerce, B2B funnels, restaurants, and in-store retail. As attention spans shrink to six seconds, brands can't afford lifeless popups, forms, or landing pages. We replace them with gamified conversion layers—quizzes, swipe games, stackers—that perform like performance marketing. At Unity, our founding team helped personalize gameplay and ads for over 2 billion users. Now, we're bringing that behavioral insight to brand engagement, building a no-code platform where anyone can launch PlayAbly experiences in minutes. Think: instead of a "Spin to Win," a match-3 game that sells your product, segments your audience, and gets 4× the opt-ins. Why now? Retargeting costs are up. Email/SMS open rates are down. And today’s customers are conditioned by the dopamine loops of TikTok and mobile games. Generic funnels can’t compete—but interactive ones can. PlayAbly is already driving results: Classkick (B2B): 5× ROI, 3× higher email open rates Skout Snacks (DTC): 7× ROI, 20% higher AOV, 4× opt-in rates 89% of previously lost sessions re-engaged through PlayAbly games We monetize on a usage + performance model, enabling fast adoption and deep long-term value. We're building a new category: AI-powered gamification that converts attention into intent, on any surface where customers meet brands. https://www.playably.ai

Founders

  • Michael BirkFounder

    Michael Birk is a founder at Baotris

  • John ChengFounder

    John Cheng is the Founder and CEO of PlayAbly, a gamification platform transforming how brands engage and build loyalty with their customers. With a strong foundation in gaming, John co-founded Playnomics, an AI-driven platform designed to predict player behavior. Following its acquisition by Unity Technologies, John joined Unity's executive team to lead Unity Analytics, providing data and machine learning solutions to over 20,000 game developers and reaching more than a billion players