Dublin-based AI software firm awarded over 3.2 million euro in innovation funding

Artomatix, a Dublin-based AI software firm, has been awarded over 3.2 million euro in innovation funding, from two separate sources, with two million awarded from DTIF (Disruptive Tech Innovation Fund) and a further million through the European Commission’s FTI (Fast Track to Innovation) Fund. The money gives Artomatix the ability to hire into key roles across the company including engineering, research, product management, and sales, with recruitment already underway.

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is a €500 million fund established under Project Ireland 2040 and is run by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland. Artomatix led an application, in partnership with WarDucks, Black Shamrock, and Keywords. The fund enables Artomatix to accelerate the development of ArtEngine 2.0, the new evolution of its AI-driven 3D art software. The win was announced as a key part of the government’s Future Jobs Ireland initiative.

The Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) is part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme and provides funding for close-to-market innovation activities in any area of technology. The funding aims to reduce the time from idea to market and stimulate private sector investment in research and innovation. This win will see Artomatix bring ENHANCEplayer to market; a solution that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance streaming video quality locally on a device to reduce internet traffic. This is also a consortium win with THEO Technologies, a Belgian video player provider.

Artomatix CEO Joe Blake said:

“There is a huge demand in the market right now for technologies that can help automate the creation of 3D and other content. As the company that is leading the development of these solutions by using AI, we are thrilled and hugely grateful to the EU and the Irish government for their vote of confidence in Artomatix and our team. This money enables us to move faster as a company and hire people to help us do that. We are very excited about our market potential looking forward into 2019 and 2020.”

Artomatix is looking to hire into a number of key roles across the company in areas such as engineering, product, research, and sales. Founded in 2014 and recently listed as dominating the computer graphics market alongside Adobe and Pixar, the company has already been awarded SME Instruments funding from the EU, the NVIDIA Early Stage Challenge and won many industry awards. They launched ArtEngine for Studios at GDC in Q2 this year, and the response has been exceptional with a number of new customer deals already signed.