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One of the UK’s largest movie technology businesses has been valued at more than $2bn following Abu Dhabi-backed fundraising that will allow the group to develop new AI tools to create films and games.
London-headquartered DNEG Group, which has worked on the visual effects in movies including Dune, Oppenheimer, Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049, has raised about $200mn from United Al Saqer Group, an Abu Dhabi investor backed by a member of the emirate’s royal family.
The deal gives DNEG the financial backing to expand its business in producing movies, rather than just providing visual effects support, having already backed recent films such as The Garfield Movie.
DNEG, which came close to listing in London in 2019 before halting work on the flotation, will also develop AI tools that will allow other content producers across film, TV, gaming and advertising to use advanced computer-generated imagery in their work. The tool will be able to produce photo-real content for a wide range of applications.
The company has been awarded seven Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, including for Inception and Blade Runner 2049. The group, which has offices across the UK, India, the US and Canada, was created in 2014 following a merger between Double Negative and Prime Focus.
“We’re trying to make a pivot from not just being a services company but also producing and owning our own content . . . [and] creating the next generation of technology tools that could be used by high end content creators,” said Namit Malhotra, DNEG chair and chief executive.
DNEG is now working on films including Animal Friends alongside Legendary Entertainment, starring Ryan Reynolds, and The Angry Birds Movie 3. It is also producing an adaptation of Indian epic the Ramayana for global audiences.
The deal also shows the movie industry ambitions of Abu Dhabi, which also helped fund the £1.1bn acquisition this year of UK TV producer All3Media by RedBird IMI.
DNEG will create a creative industries hub in Abu Dhabi following the deal, with plans to develop an industry in the Middle East for content production, storage and distribution.
“Abu Dhabi is keen to invest in new initiatives and new technology, but also is looking to create a place where they are seen as not just financial investors, but people who are also developing and building their own industry,” Malhotra said.
Prabhu Narasimhan, managing partner of NaMa Capital, which is one of the largest existing investors in DNEG, will join the DNEG Group’s board as well as chair its Brahma AI technology business.
Narasimhan said the company would develop tools that would allow the creation of realistic CGI “using the power of AI to automate a lot of processes . . . to tell a story faster, better and cheaper”.
Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, chair of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, said the deal “accelerates technological advancements in the media and entertainment sectors but also underscores our commitment to fostering a robust ecosystem for content creation”.