The 3D design app has grown to over 1 million digital spaces.

The 3D design app Rooms has secured $1 million in funding from Google following the creation of over 1 million "rooms" by its users. Launched in beta in 2023, Rooms blends creativity with social discovery and empowers users to design and code interactive 3D spaces and mini-games using a library of more than 10,000 customizable items.

Google’s investment, part of a strategic partnership, also provides Rooms with early access to its Gemini AI technology. This collaboration aims to enhance the app’s features, including a new text-to-speech mode powered by Gemini, which will allow creators to add narrated dialogue to their rooms, complete with selectable tones like happy, calm, or confident.

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The platform supports editing through the Lua programming language, making it both a creative tool and an introduction to coding.

Users can design their spaces and explore others’ creations in a TikTok-style vertical feed. Originally focused on simple spaces and mini-games, the app is now being used for more elaborate projects, including storytelling.

For instance, a creator named eodqueen transitioned from basic room designs to crafting expansive, interactive spaces with animation.

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The app, which has not introduced monetization yet and continues to focus on growing its community of creators, was updated to version 3.0 in November 2024 to introduce an Actions Editor that lets users animate their rooms without requiring coding skills. With the upcoming integration of Gemini 2.0 Flash, creators will have broader storytelling options, including speaking characters and narration.

Rooms has now over 10,000 items in its digital inventory, up from 7,500 in April 2024, giving users new tools to build their 3D creations. However, the company has not disclosed recent user metrics or engagement statistics, aside from the number of rooms – more than 1 million; it bragged about 250,000 registered users in 2023.

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The $1 million funding, finalized in December, came directly from Google and was structured as a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, allowing Google to participate in the startup’s Series A funding round. Rooms previously raised $10 million in seed funding from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz from a16z, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, and Adobe’s Scott Belsky, according to TechCrunch.

Rooms was founded by former Google employees Jason Toff, Bruno Oliveira, and Nick Kruge, who bring experience from AR/VR, games, and YouTube. It is currently available on the web and iOS.

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