Sanlo
33 employees on LinkedIn · 9 known investors
Sanlo provides monetization and payment infrastructure for game developers and publishers, including a D2C web shop builder, web checkout, and native Unity checkout to accept payments across web shops, web games, and alternative app stores. It also offers game development funding, positioning itself as an alternative to platform commission fees.
Also known as Sanlo Technologies Inc. · Sanlo, Inc.
Investors · 9
Also in the syndicate · 5
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Sanlo is a San Francisco-headquartered fintech company serving game and app developers with monetization infrastructure and capital. Its current product set covers a Webshop Builder for building direct-to-consumer web shops, Web Checkout for accepting payments on a website, web shop or web game, and Unity Checkout for adding native payments inside Unity-built games. The company positions these products as a way for developers to run live operations and accept payments across web shops, web games and alternative app stores rather than relying solely on the Apple and Google storefronts and their commission fees.
Alongside payments, Sanlo offers Sanlo Game Funding, described on its site as non-dilutive video game financing. The earlier iteration of the business was framed as a "financial OS" for game and app developers: companies connected product, marketing and financial data sources, and Sanlo's algorithms monitored their growth trajectory to surface insights and determine when the deployment of capital would benefit the business. Financing amounts varied by company stage and risk profile, and Sanlo took no ownership stake in the businesses it funded.
Sanlo also publishes industry content, including a Web Shop World Report 2024, a "Story Mode" interview series with gaming and investment executives, and best-practice material on web shops and direct-to-consumer strategy. Corporate filings referenced on the website use the name Sanlo Technologies Inc.
Founding story
Sanlo was founded in 2020 by Olya Caliujnaia (also referred to as Olya Sivers) and William Liu, who reconnected in San Francisco and combined backgrounds in fintech and gaming. Caliujnaia started in venture capital at an early mobile-focused fund, then held operator roles at EA, Getty Images and SigFig before serving as Entrepreneur in Residence at XYZ.vc. Liu worked in gaming at EA and later at fintech startups Earnest and Branch. They set out to help smaller app and game businesses recognize when to scale, where to invest and how much capital they need.
Business model
Sanlo supplies software and payment infrastructure to game developers and publishers — a web shop builder, web checkout and a Unity checkout SDK — and separately provides non-dilutive game funding. Its FAQ indicates Sanlo can act as Merchant of Record, handling compliance, and addresses pricing/currency localization, supported countries and payment methods. Financing is provided without taking equity, with amounts depending on the developer's stage and risk profile.
Traction
Sanlo states it works with game developers globally and with publishers over multiple years; testimonials come from executives at customer studios, including Vertigo. Following its Series A the company said it would make $200 million of growth capital available to developers through the HCG Funds partnership.
Latest developments
Sanlo's website markets Webshop Builder, Web Checkout and Unity Checkout alongside Sanlo Game Funding, and promotes the Web Shop World Report 2024 and recent Story Mode interviews with executives from Neon, Meridian Play and GFR Fund. Site copyright notices are dated 2025.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Sanlo describes itself as backed by gaming and fintech investors and staffed by operators from the gaming industry. At its seed round the company said it had few direct competitors, citing Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders plus mobile gaming publishers, and differentiated itself from the publisher model, which typically implies an ownership stake.
Non-dilutive capital with no equity stake, combined with data-driven financial insights specific to games and apps, and payment products aimed at avoiding platform commission fees. Customer testimonials emphasize gaming-specific rather than generic tooling.
Technology
Proprietary predictive algorithms ingest developer-supplied product data (monetization, customer acquisition, retention), marketing data and a subset of financial data through securely connected data sources, consolidating them into a single destination within hours and continuously monitoring growth trajectory to surface insights and inform financing decisions. Product-side technology includes a full-stack D2C web shop builder, a web checkout that works across web tech stacks and web games, and a customizable Unity checkout UI supporting iOS and Android native payment forms.
Go-to-market
Direct engagement via the website's "get in touch" and demo requests, supported by self-serve documentation for product integration, customer testimonials from studio executives, and content marketing including the Web Shop World Report and the Story Mode interview series.
Small to medium-sized game and app companies, mobile game studios, and game publishers; at seed stage Sanlo was piloting with a small group of mobile game studios and planned to extend support to consumer apps.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, with customers described as game developers across the globe; the FAQ addresses supported countries and currencies and localization of pricing.
History
Founded in 2020 in San Francisco, Sanlo announced a $3.5 million seed round co-led by Index Ventures and Initial Capital in May 2021 while pilot testing with mobile game studios ahead of a public launch. In June 2022 it closed a $10 million Series A led by Konvoy and partnered with HCG Funds to expand its capital pool to $200 million. The company subsequently launched web shop and payments products — Webshop Builder, Web Checkout and Unity Checkout — and published the Web Shop World Report 2024.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 6
by search overlap
Companies competing with Sanlo for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsSanlo published its Web Shop World Report 2024, promoted across its website.
Sanlo raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Konvoy, with participation from existing investors Initial Capital, Portage Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, London Venture Partners and Index Ventures, plus new investors Fin Capital, GFR Fund and angel investors. Proceeds were intended to scale its financial OS, expand products and grow the team.
$10M source ↗
Sanlo partnered with HCG Funds to expand its capital pool to $200 million of non-dilutive growth capital for game and app developers.
$200M source ↗
Sanlo announced a $3.5 million seed round co-led by Index Ventures and Initial Capital, with participation from LVP, Portag3 Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital and angel investors including Kristian Segestrale, Gokul Rajaram and Charley Ma. Funds were earmarked for growing the team and product suite ahead of a public launch.
$3.5M source ↗
Initial Capital co-founder and partner Ken Lamb joined as a board director, while Index partner Mark Goldberg and XYZ managing partner Ross Fubini joined as board observers.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Multi-platform payments and monetization for games | Webshop Build, Web Checkout, Unity Checkout | Sanlosanlo.io · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Sanlo do?
- Sanlo provides web shop, payments and non-dilutive financing infrastructure for game and app developers.
- Who are Sanlo's investors?
- Sanlo's investors include GFR Fund, Index Ventures, Initial Capital, Portag3 Ventures.