An Oscar-winning visual effects studio has secured more than £150 million in funding to evolve its offer.
DNEG Group, headquartered in London, has provided visual effects for movies including Dune, Oppenheimer, Interstellar, Avengers: Endgame and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Created in 2014 by a merger between Double Negative and Prime Focus, it has received seven Oscars for best visual effects.
It said the backing from United Al Saqer Group – at a $2 billion valuation – would expand its intellectual property and content creation arm, Prime Focus Studios, which recently co-produced The Garfield Movie.
The investment will also see it evolve from a pure services provider to a content production and AI-powered technology partner, providing solutions across media, entertainment and gaming.
It will activate a new technology division, Brahma, which is developing the industry’s most comprehensive AI-powered, photo-real CGI creator; and also open a new visual experience hub in Abu Dhabi, with plans to develop an ecosystem for content production, storage and distribution in the region.
“This investment will accelerate our plans to further drive the DNEG Group’s existing activities and enable the group to expand its offering, both in terms of the services we provide and the markets we operate in,” said DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra.
“We are building on our success with the opening of a studio in Abu Dhabi, bringing content creation and technological capabilities to the region, positioning us as a leader there, and allowing us to leverage our global capabilities like no other.”
MediaTech 50 – UK’s most innovative media tech creators for 2024
Joining Malhotra on DNEG Group’s board of directors are Nabil Kobeissi and Edouard Zard from UASG, and Prabhu Narasimhan from NaMa Capital, a leading investor in the DNEG Group, who will also become executive chairman of Brahma.
Kobeissi, CEO of UASG, said: “We are thrilled to join forces with Namit, Prabhu, and the DNEG Group. Namit’s visionary approach to revolutionising the media and entertainment industry through cutting-edge technology is unparallelled.
“This strategic partnership not only turbo-charges the development of Brahma, the group’s ground-breaking AI-powered CGI creator, but also, under Namit’s leadership, demonstrates Abu Dhabi’s positioning as a global epicentre for content creation and distribution.
“By championing advanced AI technologies and expanding Prime Focus Studios, we are set to drive innovation and generate significant job opportunities across the UAE.”