Investors Back Potential of Genemation's Face Synthesis and Animation Technology

Genemation, the Manchester based technology start-up, headed by ex Psygnosis and PlayStation Europe senior exec, John Bickley, has successfully completed a significant seven figure funding round, with its major institutional investors and management team completing the investment earlier this month.

(PRWEB) November 18, 2004 -- Genemation, the Manchester based technology start-up, headed by ex Psygnosis and PlayStation Europe senior exec, John Bickley, has successfully completed a significant seven figure funding round, with its major institutional investors and management team completing the investment earlier this month.

Genemation is developing innovative facial synthesis and animation 'middleware technology for digital artists in the video games, post production, web authoring and other digital content sectors.

Genemation was spun out of Manchester Universitys Imaging Science & Biomedical Engineering division (ISBE), one of the worlds leading academic institutions in 'computer vision in 2002

The funding comes on the back of a six figure grant from the UK Governments DTi (Department of Trade & Industry) that will enable the Companys to accelerate the development of leading edge embedded run-time technology aimed at 'next gen hardware platforms, which will sit alongside its bespoke face synthesis tools, which are being upgraded for launch at next Marchs GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco.

John Bickley, CEO commented, At a time when some parts of the video games development industry are going through major retrenchment and consolidation, and investors are increasingly hesitant about video games companies prospects, its heartening to be involved in a business that investors see as having leading edge technology, good commercial prospects, and very good potential for a healthy return on investment.

The UK has a long tradition of innovation and producing ground breaking technologies across many industry sectors. I firmly believe theres a great future for UK companies developing 'middleware for the video games sector, which with 'next gen platforms is facing unprecedented technical and commercial pressures. Studios cannot go on exponentially increasing the size and funding of their teams, nor can they afford to keep developing their own propriety tools in the face of dedicated third party offers. Studios and their publishers need to de-risk Projects and focus on developing great game designs and game play, using bespoke 'middleware solutions to underpin their delivery. EAs recent purchase of Criterion (RenderWare) sends a clear signal that 'middleware will play an increasingly important role in the development pipeline."

Company information: Genemation is a private company with offices in Manchester, England.

For further information please contact: John Bickley, CEO at:

+44 (0) 161 275 5139

john@genemation.com

www.genemation.com

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