Jeffrey Katzenberg-Backed AI Animation Software Cartwheel Raises $10 Million

AI animation software startup Cartwheel announced today a new $10 million funding round as well as multiple hires from Pixar. The company also emerged out of beta and has made its 3d animation tools public for the first time.

The new funding round boosts the company’s total funding to $15.6 million. The latest funding is led by Craft Ventures, along with Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, Tirta Ventures, and Runway, and with participation from existing investors Accel, Khosla, and Human Ventures. Katzenberg, former Dreamworks Animation CEO, has been a vocal proponent of artificial intelligence software and has boasted that AI could eliminate 90% of the people currently working in the animation industry.

More details on Cartwheel’s announcement:

• Carthweel wants to make 3d animation accessible to all by “removing technical bottlenecks so users can focus on story and performance, and making it 100 times faster, easier, and more accessible than ever before.”
• Cartwheel’s co-founders Jonathan Jarvis and Andrew Carr claim that their software will do for animation what “the iPhone did for photography.” They further explained: “We’ve developed a new way to simplify the animation process, putting creatives in the drivers’ seat as they dramatically accelerate their workflows, eliminate tedious tasks, free up budget for more creative exploration, and enhance control over their final products.”
• Cartwheel turns video, text, and large motion libraries into production-ready 3d character animation that it claims are easy to move, edit, and download directly into current workflows. The company says its tool has utility for both professionals and novices: industry pros can use Cartwheel to rapidly prototype ideas in any 3d format without changing their existing pipeline, while novice creators can quickly generate video clips without any animation knowledge. The platform can be previewed on the company’s website.
• Cartwheel will use the new funding to continue to train its motion models, attract new talent, and ramp up marketing efforts.
• The company today announced two new hires, both of whom are Pixar veterans: Catherine Hicks, a directing animator who worked on 15 Pixar films, has joined as Cartwheel’s new head of animation innovation, while Neil Helm, a 16-year Pixar vet who was supervising crowds animator on Toy Story 4 and Inside Out 2, is Cartwheel’s new head of interactive animation.
• Ben Feder, managing Partner at Tirta Ventures, said in a statement:
  

  Cartwheel has changed the entire paradigm of animation by introducing a new toolset that builds on the artistry of animation, making productions more efficient so more stories can be told. Where concepts could take days, weeks, or months to visualize, Cartwheel’s technology makes the process virtually instant, unleashing an entirely new world of storytelling possibilities in video, games, advertising and many other sectors. We are proud to be investors in Cartwheel and look forward to enabling today’s developers to benefit from this groundbreaking technology.