NaturalMotion Closes Major Round Of Financing

NaturalMotion, the game middleware developers of 3D animation technology based on Dynamic Motion Synthesis, have announced that the company has closed a major financing round with Benchmark Capital Europe, the venture capitalist behind eBay, Betfair, Setanta and bebo.com. NaturalMotion noted that the additional capital will be used to assist in the development of innovative and interactive 3D entertainment technologies such as euphoria, a run-time animation technology for gameplay and development on next-generation platforms, including PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Euphoria is being used in several upcoming next-generation titles, including those from LucasArts’ Star Wars and Indiana Jones brands. NaturalMotion also recently announced morpheme, a new animation engine and tool chain for next-generation game development. “Raising additional capital was a matter of choice, not necessity, and had a lot to do with the partner,” said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. “We have had a great relationship with Benchmark since well before the financing and truly share their vision of building pioneering, world-class technology companies.”