Windwalk
YC W19Austin, US · Founded 2018 · 25 employees · 4 known investors
Windwalk Games develops multiplayer video games, including the social deduction game Enemy on Board and the Arthurian co-op roguelike SWORN (with Team17), alongside Harbor, a suite of gamification and automation tools for the marketing and community teams of game developers and publishers.
Also known as Enemy on Board · Windwalk Games
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W19)
Windwalk was founded in 2018 by Cris Feo and Samuel Leonard.
Investors · 4
Also in the syndicate · 1
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$4.5M disclosed across 1 round · 2024
- $4.5MEarly seedOct 2024 · 4 sources
a16z Speedrun, Tirta Ventures, Y Combinator, YCombinator
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Windwalk is a company founded in 2018 and based in Austin, Texas, that began as a game development studio and now operates Harbor, a social software platform for community growth. Harbor provides brand-owned "homebases" that integrate with a company's existing apps and websites, centralising community resources, rewards, games and campaigns in one destination. Through visual no-code dashboards, partners can unify disparate social audiences and obtain a consolidated view of their fandom, then run referral campaigns, community events and user-generated content initiatives directly against that audience.
The platform is built on the interconnected web of tools and social bots Windwalk developed for its own titles, which gamified pre-registration, playtesting, referral and feedback processes. While the initial focus is games, the company states the applications extend to music, sports, e-commerce and politics. Windwalk was part of Y Combinator's Winter 2019 batch and reported a team size of 25.
Founding story
Windwalk was founded in 2018 and started as a game development studio. According to the company, operating with a small team and budget was a significant disadvantage in an industry heavily dependent on marketing and user acquisition spending, so the team chose to grow its games through word of mouth from its most engaged players and to gamify the acquisition funnel itself, from pre-registration through playtests, referrals and feedback. The tooling built for that purpose was later productised as Harbor.
Business model
Windwalk offers Harbor as a social software platform used by consumer brands and game companies to build and operate their own community hubs, with gamification, referral, event and UGC campaign functionality configured through no-code dashboards.
Traction
During its closed beta, Harbor was reported to have generated more than 5 million monthly active users for its partners, with design partners including Immutable, EVE Frontier, NZXT and Scopely.
Latest developments
In October 2024 Windwalk announced $4.5 million in early seed funding from a16z SPEEDRUN, Y Combinator and Tirta Ventures and launched Harbor out of closed beta.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Windwalk positions Harbor as an alternative to paid acquisition channels such as advertising, influencer marketing and cross-promotion, which company leadership describes as zero-sum, arguing that growth should instead be driven by a brand's most passionate users.
Technology
Harbor consists of responsive web hubs, or "homebases", that integrate with existing apps and websites, an interconnected set of gamification tools and social bots covering pre-registration, playtesting, referrals and feedback, and visual no-code dashboards that unify audiences across social platforms into a single view.
Go-to-market
Windwalk states that Harbor grew via word of mouth, initially through fully responsive web hubs built for design partners during a closed beta, before a public launch coinciding with the October 2024 funding announcement.
Consumer companies seeking user growth, primarily game developers and publishers, with stated applicability to music, sports, e-commerce and politics. Partners cited during the Harbor closed beta included Immutable, EVE Frontier, NZXT and Scopely.
Geography
Headquartered in Austin, Texas; one trade report described the company as Utah-based.
History
Windwalk was founded in 2018 and joined the Y Combinator Winter 2019 batch. It initially operated as a game development studio before developing internal gamification tools and social bots for community growth. In October 2024 the company announced $4.5 million in early seed funding from a16z SPEEDRUN, Y Combinator and Tirta Ventures and publicly launched Harbor, which had previously run in closed beta.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 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.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsWindwalk launched Harbor, a platform offering branded 'homebases' that integrate with existing apps and websites and use no-code visual dashboards to unify disparate social audiences, run referral campaigns, community events and UGC initiatives. Harbor emerged from the studio's earlier web of gamification tools and social bots covering pre-registration, playtesting, referrals and feedback.
Windwalk announced $4.5 million in early seed funding from a16z SPEEDRUN, Y Combinator and Tirta Ventures, to be used to launch and scale its community growth tool Harbor.
$4.5M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Windwalk: Windwalk is the industry leader in building, growing, and operating… | Y Combinatorycombinator.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Windwalk do?
- Windwalk builds Harbor, a no-code platform that helps brands unify social audiences and grow through gamified superfan communities.
- Who founded Windwalk?
- Windwalk was founded by Cris Feo, Samuel Leonard in 2018.
- Who are Windwalk's investors?
- Windwalk's investors include TIRTA Ventures, Y Combinator, A16Z Speedrun.
- How much funding has Windwalk raised?
- Windwalk has disclosed $4.5M raised across 1 round.
- Where is Windwalk headquartered?
- Windwalk is headquartered in Austin, US.