High-end production pipelines, previously available only to major animation studios, will soon be available to everyone in the world. Nimble Collective, the tech startup founded by former DreamWorks Animation employees, announced this morning that it has raised an $8.5 million round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates to continue developing the animation industry’s first cloud-based, end-to-end platform.
The company also announced that three major figures from the feature animation industry have been added to its group of advisors: Mark Walsh (Partysaurus Rex), Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians), and Eric Darnell (Penguins of Madagascar, Antz).
Since announcing its launch last May, Nimble has worked toward developing a platform that it believes will revolutionize animation production for individuals and companies around the world. Nimble is bullish on the growing animation market, estimating 10 million professional and aspiring animation artists worldwide who could potentially become users of its services. The company is eyeing a beta launch in the second half of 2016.