London-based Anything World, a platform for developing ML-powered interactive 3D experiences, announced on Wednesday, November 9, that it has raised $7.5M (approximately €7.52M) in a Series Seed Plus funding round.
Anything World also announced the debut of its high-fidelity animation system, which enables rigging and animations for any 3D model at any moment. The system is being launched in stages with its first iteration available now.
Additionally, the company also announced that their “innovative” service is coming to Unreal Engine in December. These developments are directly in line with their goal of removing obstacles to 3D creation so that everyone may create content. It implies that more individuals will have access to the tools in industry-standard formats.
The company had already raised $1.8M (approximately €1.8M) in a prior funding round, bringing its total to $9.3M (approximately €9.33M).
Investors and capital utilisation
The round saw investment from Acrew Capital, Alumni Ventures, Warner Music Group, NGC Ventures, Supernode Global, GameTech Ventures, and GFR Fund.
Vishal Lugani, Founding Partner of Acrew Capital, says, “We strongly believe that Anything World can be a key enabler of helping digital experiences become richer and more immersive. To start, Anything World is leveraging machine learning to tackle the problem of animation and rigging. Developers and designers of games, virtual worlds, and immersive experiences shouldn’t have to toil for hours to bring their characters to life. Anything World speeds time to production for people building for the future of consumer digital experiences.”
Anything World says it will use the funds for two years of runway, expansion of the team, and the launch of its new high-fidelity animation system.
“Empowering a new wave of 3D creation”
Founded in 2018 by Gordon Midwood and Sebastian Hofer, Anything World’s platform is a tool for producing 3D materials at a large scale that are open-sourced, easily accessible, and remixable. This comes as 3D and virtual experiences become a vital tool for boosting engagement and user interest.
Along with custom-made 3D content designs, the company’s custom implementations algorithmically assign animations and behaviours, and artists have access to hundreds of thousands of 3D models.
Anything World claims to offer a service with the premise, functionality, and distinctive levels of behavioural intelligence combined that no other competition offers. This access and their innovative tools constitute a market differentiator for them.
Co-founder Gordon Midwood says, “The capacity for anyone to create immersive and accessible experiences in virtual and 3D worlds has been expanded substantially by this funding round. We’re thrilled to expand further the tools and opportunities we can provide to developers, creatives and the general public. Because of the interest and need from developers who want to create 3D worlds, populate those worlds with assets, and immerse users in incredible experiences, Anything World will continue to be the go-to platform.”
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