Investment to Double Staff and Expand R&D for “Game of Thrones” Character Tech; Collaborating on New Console Game
Ziva Dynamics, creators of Hollywood’s most advanced character simulation software, today announced the completion of a $7 million seed round led by Grishin Robotics, Toyota AI Ventures and Millennium Technology Value Partners’ New Horizons Fund. The funding will be used to make key hires, advance development on Ziva’s real-time digital character engine, and radically expand the company’s sales and marketing capabilities.
The brainchild of Academy Award winner James Jacobs and USC Associate Professor of Computer Science Jernej Barbic, Ziva’s character authoring tool has already been used by over 100 studios on titles such as Game of Thrones, The Meg and Captain Marvel. This technology is fundamentally changing the character creation process by bringing physics-embedded soft tissue simulation to the forefront of the media and entertainment industry. With Ziva, artists are rapidly producing CG characters with dynamic muscles, fat and skin that automatically flex, wrinkle and jiggle just as they would in real life.