Stockholm-based Motorica, a generative AI company specialized in character animation and motion synthesis for video games, announced this week that it has a closed a $5.8 million (€5 million) seed funding round, led by Angular Ventures, with participation from Luminar Ventures.
The funding will support Motorica’s expansion, scaling of its proprietary AI platform, and continued investment in R&D as it develops tools for “instant character animation.”
Here’s more about Motorica’s platform:
- Motorica’s tech is already being used in live production environments by AAA game studios to deliver production-ready animation at speed and scale. The company says that, “In early deployments, studios have reported up to a 99% reduction in animation time, achieving animation workflows that are 200x faster than the traditional motion-capture-to-gameplay-animation workflow.”
- Motorica integrates industry-standard tools and workflows, and offers full compatibility with Unreal Engine, Maxon Cinema 4D, Maya, Unity, and Blender. Advanced capabilities include support for motion matching, enabling lifelike animation for large numbers of characters in complex gameplay scenarios. The company says that its goal is not to replace human creativity but eliminate chores, such as character locomotion and filler cycles, thus allowing creative teams to focus on performance, narrative, and style.
- Willem Demmers, CEO of Motorica, said in a statement:
Motorica is a breakthrough in game development and animation technology that will help to bring forth the next era of gaming, enabling digital Living Worlds that are populated by dynamic, lifelike characters that will make gameplay a truly immersive and interactive experience. But unlike other AI developments, we’re not here to upend the animation workflow. We’re here to liberate it. Traditionally, animators spend 70% of their time on technical grunt work and only 30% on actual creative performance. Motorica flips that. By automating the grind — things like tedious keyframing for basic locomotion — we let creators focus on what matters: storytelling, emotion, and innovation. That shift helps studios move faster, push quality higher, and ship with less friction.
- Animator Maxi Keller (The Last of Us: Part II, Call of Duty: WWll) shared, “Motorica is the best tool out there for locomotion animation and Motion Matching. It delivers better, more consistent results than mocap as they give you exact control on acceleration and target speed, and more.”
- David Peterson, partner at Angular Ventures, said: “We invested in Motorica because they’re not just reimagining animation — they’re building foundational technology that will power the next wave of digital experiences. This platform has the potential to influence everything from how characters move in games and virtual worlds to how machines understand and replicate human motion in robotics, XR, and beyond. Their deep research roots, execution strength, and early adoption from industry leaders make Motorica a category-defining company.”
- Motorica’s core IP is built on research breakthroughs by Gustav Henter and Simon Alexanderson, who in 2019 developed the world’s first deep generative model for motion synthesis. Henter and Alexanderson teamed up with entrepreneur Willem Demmers to bring the company to market.
- Motorica owns and operates a motion capture studio in Stockholm, Sweden, and has built what it calls “one of the largest and most refined proprietary motion datasets in the world.” With this foundation, Motorica says it is “the only generative AI provider currently delivering AAA-quality animation at scale and as the category leader in the emerging space of motion synthesis.”
Motorica’s near-term initiatives include:
- Expanding integrations via SDKs and APIs to make Motorica more plug-and-play for game studios, cinematics and virtual production teams.
- Growing the company’s data infrastructure and motion library, adding tools for controllable motion within fighting, sports, and stylized movement.
- Launching strategic partnerships with game engines, simulation platforms, and large-scale vfx studios.
- Hiring across engineering, animation, data, and customer success.
