Investment set to drive additional client tools, support and global commercialization.
Didimo, the leader in high-quality digital human avatars, announces a $7.15M Series A round to bring incomparable speed, quality, and scalability to game studios and businesses so they can literally put you inside games, retail experiences, and so much more.
The funding round, led by Armilar Venture Partners, with participation of Bright Pixel Capital, Portugal Ventures, and Techstars, enables Didimo to expand its best-in-class approach which simplifies what is typically a heavily complex and expensive 3D avatar creation process into one single step. Their proprietary cloud-based platform operates at runtime and is significantly more cost-effective for companies. Creating an accurate digital twin usually takes days of effort; Didimo cuts that to about 60 seconds.
Want to play right next to and face-to-face with Stephen Curry, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Tom Brady? Didimo’s robust pipeline means game developers, brands and companies can now turn 2D facial (and soon body) images into a 3D digital version of themselves at speed, scale, and immersion never seen in the market to date. Consumers can see their actual self playing against their favorite sports star in a video game, dancing with their friends at a virtual concert, or trying on fashion in eCommerce sites to pick a perfectly fitting outfit. Truly life-like avatars allow businesses to transform their services, experiences, and benefits, driving revenue and loyalty.
Didimo consolidates a heavily complex 3D avatar creation process into a single-step, cloud-based platform that operates at runtime and is cost-effective for companies. The proprietary, AI-based system has earned 3 patents for the unique use of computer graphics, computer vision and deep learning technologies and the ability to serve highly detailed files quickly and easily. This makes it possible for businesses of all kinds to turn a customer’s selfie into a 3D digital version of that person in just seconds – something that could not be achieved before Didimo – and offer immersive, personalized experiences.
“Didimo’s mission has always been to make the digital world more human by bringing the richness of emotional expression and personalization to experiences,” says Didimo founder, CEO Verónica Orvalho. “We can empower people to do naturally in digital spaces what they do in the real world, like try on clothes, pick up and explore products, compete in a game or entertain their friends. Our technology means people engage with computing in more human and authentic ways.”
Pedro Ribeiro Santos, a partner at Armilar Venture Partners, explains what motivated the new investment in the startup: “We have been closely involved with Didimo for a few years and have watched this technology advance quickly, from its academic roots shaped over several years of R&D, to become an enterprise-grade product offering an entirely new engagement model with people at thecenter. We believe that the company’s product offers an immense opportunity, as businesses look for scalable ways through which they can provide deeper value - and earn greater revenue - from their consumer base, by stimulating user attraction, engagement, and retention.”
The US company, with offices in Porto, Portugal, and the UK will use the recently raised capital to driveglobal commercial growth, advance product development and create additional support options forcustomers.
Beyond user-specific digital twins, the Didimo platform can easily generate non-playable characters (NPCs) and realistic characters at speed and scale, helping studios and experience designers quickly populate their worlds with high-quality characters. The modular platform uses industry-standard tools and formats like Mixamo, ARKit, Amazon Polly, and more, enabling designers to quickly build to their desired specs, saving time and money.
Current customers and partners include NOS Communications, Ceek, Soleil Game Studios, Sony, Grenoble Ecole du Management, tagSpace, Valaclava, Atom Stars, Unstitched and more.
