Ukrainian deeptech firm Zibra AI has recently announced that it has raised $500,000 in funding as part of the inaugural Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Speedrun accelerator program. This funding marks the beginning of the company’s seed investment round and brings its total investment to $2.5 million.

AI-powered 3D assets for gaming

Zibra AI, founded in 2021, intends to utilize these funds to expand its team and accelerate the growth of its generative AI technology. Their flagship product, Zibra Effects, is a Unity Verified Solution that is available on multiple platforms and has applications in various industries like gaming, the metaverse, and professional training. This solution automates the creation of 3D assets and visual effects, streamlining the production process for developers.

The CEO and co-founder of Zibra AI, Alex Petrenko, expressed his gratitude for being shortlisted in the a16z Speedrun, stating that it demonstrates investor confidence in their technology roadmap and the vision for the next two years and beyond. Petrenko further added, “Our generative AI tools tackle the two major challenges faced by developers – creating interactive VFX and generating 3D assets and characters. With this new investment, we can expedite our plans to develop our technology and provide further support for game and virtual experience development across various industries.”

a16z investment partner Troy Kirwin commended Zibra AI’s ability to solve complex technical issues in computer graphics and expressed enthusiasm for being part of their journey in building an end-to-end 3D content creation platform.

The a16z Speedrun selected Zibra AI as one of the 32 companies out of 1,600 applicants for coaching and funding. Each accepted company received an initial investment of $500,000 and had the opportunity to pitch to investors at the Speedrun Demo Day in June 2023.