Arcanix is a Decision Intelligence platform for games studios that need clearer, faster decision-making in the messy reality of day-to-day operations. Founded by Adam Betteridge, Oscar Clark and Ella Romanos, the company was born from a familiar industry pattern: even large live-service games are often still run manually, with key decisions tracked in spreadsheets.
Ella has spent 18 or 19 years in the gaming industry, running startups and consulting, with the last decade focused on helping developers operate live-service games at every scale. That vantage point surfaced repeated operational problems that studios were struggling to solve, and created the opportunity to build a SaaS platform purpose-built for them.
Support through Techscaler mentorship, delivered by CodeBase on behalf of the Scottish Government, helped Arcanix move from early grant-backed progress to VC readiness, while keeping founder momentum steady through the realities of building.
Arcanix sprang from a sector pattern-recognition. Ella spent years close to the operational side of live-service games, supporting teams from tiny studios through to global-scale titles. Across that range, she saw the same challenges recur, and saw that many decisions were still being handled manually, often in spreadsheets, despite the stakes on time, teams, and outcomes. That repetition created clarity in terms of product direction. The team was not trying to build another gaming product rather they saw an opportunity to build a SaaS platform that helps studios surface what matters, weigh trade-offs, and prioritise decisions in a way that fits how games are actually operated.
Arcanix entered Techscaler mentorship with strong domain expertise, but a new category of build ahead. Ella knew games and the underlying operational problem, but had never built a SaaS platform before. The team also needed to raise VC funding at a level Ella had not tackled previously, and to shape the business for scale in a way that matched investor expectations.
At the same time, the company was shifting identity and operating style, moving from a “games company” to a SaaS business. That meant different hiring profiles, culture, and pressure, while still managing runway and the personal stress that comes with building early-stage.
Ella connected with Techscaler early, around the time Arcanix secured Scottish Enterprise grant support, well before the VC round was finalised.
Mentorship with Techscaler mentor Jason Wagner became a consistent thread from the beginning, giving the team an experienced external perspective as priorities shifted month to month. The support was practical and responsive: sharpening the pitch, sense-checking what “VC ready” really meant, and pressure-testing product priorities as the platform took shape.
It also made room for the human reality of early-stage building. When the team was stretched, having someone who could check in personally helped sustain momentum through a difficult phase.
As Arcanix moved from grant-funded build into fundraising, Techscaler provided structure at the moments that mattered. Jason reviewed the pitch deck repeatedly, helping refine narrative and deck structure so the team could communicate a games-native problem to people outside the sector.
That outside perspective was especially valuable because investors did not always “get” games, and Ella was navigating how to explain the company clearly to both investors and early customers.
The support then evolved, from fundraising readiness into customer readiness: how to pitch when the product is still early, and how to manage delivery when some work remains manual.
Across both phases, mentorship helped Ella get out of her own head and keep decisions moving.
With fundraising secured in September and October 2025, Arcanix hifted focus from investor conversations to converting studios into paying customers.
The immediate milestones that followed were pivotal for learning and confidence: the team landed their first customer, then set the next target of securing more customers by the end of March, while working toward product-market fit during 2026.
The business itself is scaling in parallel. Arcanix now operates with entities in Scotland and Belgium, and is growing the team with additional senior developers to extend runway and build recurring revenue through retained clients.
On the funding side, Arcanix is building toward a €1.25M raise. Around €500K of private investment has already been secured or committed, with €250K still open as the round progresses.
For Ella, Techscaler mentorship brought consistent, founder-first support across fundraising, product focus, and the personal realities of early-stage building. It reinforced the value of having someone outside the team who can challenge decisions, pressure-test priorities, and support momentum when pressure rises.
Arcanix’s journey also underlines a wider point for ecosystem builders: when founders get hands-on guidance early, they can reach fundable clarity faster, then move into customer traction with more confidence.
Follow Arcanix on LinkedIn to track customer growth and product progress.
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