£20m financial boost for Cubic Motion

NorthEdge Capital has made a significant investment in Cubic Motion, the award-winning creator of advanced computer vision for digital entertainment. NorthEdge Capital manages £540m of private equity funds and typically invests between £5m-£45m. The partnership provides growth capital to accelerate the deployment of the SIGGRAPH award winners' real-time facial animation technologies.

Headquartered at Manchester Science Park, Cubic Motion is led by CEO Dr. Gareth Edwards - winner of the 2015 IEEE Test of Time Award for Face and Gesture Recognition. The company employs a strong team of over 70 internationally acclaimed computer vision researchers, engineers, animators and producers.

Cubic Motion's vision technology is currently best known for its use in high fidelity facial animation, where the company is recognised as a global market leader. Cubic Motion has created advanced digital content for a range of prominent video game publishers including Activision, Epic, EA, Ninja Theory and Sony. Critically acclaimed titles such as Call of Duty, Hellblade and Squadron 42 (Star Citizen) are just a few examples of the company's extensive portfolio of titles.

Cubic Motion's technology is particularly suited to real-time applications in social virtual reality, gaming and film production. Recent live demonstrations such as realtime "Meet Mike" at SIGGRAPH 2017, in collaboration with Unreal Engine and 3Lateral are regarded as state-of-theart in real-time digital humans.

With a strong track record of 100% year-on-year revenue growth, Cubic Motion will use NorthEdge's investment and support to further deploy and productise its core animation business, drive forward its extensive IP portfolio and expand internationally.

The deal was led by NorthEdge's Jon Pickering and George Potts, Head of Manchester and Investment Manager, respectively, with support from Greg Holmes, Investment Executive. George Potts and Andy Ball will represent NorthEdge on the board.

George Potts, Investment Manager at NorthEdge, said: "Cubic Motion is at the cutting edge of a sector undergoing substantial growth. We believe the breadth and depth of experience, expertise and quality throughout the company sets Cubic Motion apart from its competition; with its recent work on Hellblade being a great example.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Gareth and the team as they seek to build upon their platform of best-in-class computer vision technology and animation services. Our collaboration will enable the company to double headcount within two years and deepen relationships with key clients across the globe. It is an exciting time to bring our support and network to the benefit of Cubic Motion and we look forward to working closely to ensure the company's work reaches an ever larger audience."

Dr Gareth Edwards, CEO at Cubic Motion, said: "Cubic Motion is delighted to work with NorthEdge - the ideal equity partner for the rapid growth ahead. By organically growing the business to its present scale, we have proven the power of our computer vision technology to transform content production. We are particularly proud to be the trusted supplier to many of the world's largest publishers and developers. Aided by NorthEdge's investment and experience, we will deploy an expanding range of licensed software solutions, bringing real-time vision and animation capabilities direct to our clients and partners, revolutionising the way content is made."