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Unity Technologies has acquired AI and neural networks software company, Artomatix.
The award-winning Irish software company uses AI and neural networks to streamline 3D art processes whilst its flagship product, Art Engine, leverages AI to “help artists accelerate their creative workflows for material creation, enhancing their ability to achieve their artistic vision and produce photorealistic content”.
Unity says the workflow benefits “apply to every industry creating 3D content, regardless of platform or engine”.
Artomatix will continue to operate out of Dublin, Ireland “where the team is expected to grow exponentially over the next two years in the areas of research and development”.
“Unity understands the value of enabling creators to do more, and that’s something we’re deeply committed to,” said Joe Blake, CEO at Artomatix. “AI creation tools like Art Engine help to put AAA quality content within reach of more creators than ever before. By joining Unity, we can greatly accelerate the delivery of our industry-leading AI for creatives. Art Engine will continue to remain platform agnostic, enabling creators to benefit from our AI technology regardless of which engine they choose for their projects.”
“AI-assisted content creation tools empower artists by increasing their creative velocity to produce better work and get to quality faster.,” added Brett Bibby, chief product officer, Unity Technologies. “Art Engine helps game studios create realistic content for the next generation of consoles and VFX studios to achieve better visuals for films, and can enable equally impressive results for creatives working in other industries. From automotive and architecture to retail marketing and more, the demand for high fidelity design visualizations is growing at an exponential rate and will benefit from ArtEngine’s capabilities.”
Unity Technologies has made several acquisitions in the last 12 months, most recently Obvioos and live game management platform, ChilliConnect. DeltaDNA – which is used by companies such as Sega, Bethesda, Take-Two Interactive, Viacom, Bandai Namco, and 505 Game – was also acquired last year, and will continue to operate as a separate entity, “providing its engine agnostic player lifetime management tools to developers worldwide”.
The company recently confirmed it had secured additional investment, too. After a tender offer for common shareholders of up to $525 million, Unity Technologies’ worth doubled to an estimated $6 billion. As the tender offer is open to all common shareholders – the majority of which are current and former employers of the firm – this “marks a significant milestone” and the “opportunity for some liquidity to [Unity’s] dedicated employees who have worked so hard to make Unity the company that it is today”.Unity sought $125 million in additional Series E funding back in May 2019, and closed with $150m, boosting the company’s value up to an estimated $5.96 billion at the time.
