Spire Animation Studios Raises Temasek Tower For Animated Films

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Spire Animation Studios has announced that it has raised funding from Singapore-based global investment firm Temasek and investment firm Ericsenz.

Spire said the round will help it expand its efforts to create new kinds of movies with game engine tools — and create metaverse experiences. The amount of the round was not disclosed, but Spire has now raised over $40 million to date.

The new funding complements Spire's previous funding led by Epic Games with existing investor Connect Ventures, an investment partnership formed by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

The investment allows Spire to continue to develop the team, tools, real-time pipeline and cloud infrastructure needed to produce the highest quality animated feature films with stronger collaboration and greater efficiency. The next-gen movie studio will also simultaneously create worlds and experiences for the Metaverse through Epic's Unreal Engine.

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Spire has raised $40 million to date.

Spire plans to produce premium animated feature films with metaverse potential. The studio will also create immersive worlds designed for interactive platforms that build on their existing stories and allow fans to engage authentically.

The studio's real-time pipeline developed using Epic's Unreal Engine is at the heart of these never-before-seen experiences for the Metaverse and other interactive mediums, including games, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

"Adding Temasek to our existing set of exceptional partners - Epic Games, CAA and NEA - will help us achieve our vision of bridging premium linear and non-linear animated content." Spire CEO P.J. Gunsagar said in a statement. “A cornerstone of this new model is meta-distribution, which allows audiences to interact with the characters and stories of our films before, during and after release. We couldn't be more excited about this potential."

Spire's first animated feature to take advantage of this innovative technology and distribution model is Trouble, in collaboration with Danny McBride's Rough House Pictures. The film is slated for release in 2024.

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