DNEG, the London-headquartered visual effects and animation house that has won Oscars for the likes of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Netflix’s Stranger Things, said Tuesday it secured a $200 million investment from the Abu Dhabi-based United Al Saqar Group.
DNEG is also the preferred visual effects creator for Christopher Nolan on movies like Inception, Interstellar and Tenet. The visual effects and animation company will use the cash injection to accelerate artificial intelligence-driven content creation at Brahma, DNEG’s newly-launched technology division.
The new funds will also go towards bolstering other divisions like the content arm Prime Focus Studios, acquired in 2023 and a provider of cloud-based software and AI technology for the media industry, including major studios and streamers, and creating a visual experience hub in Abu Dhabi.
In 2022, DNEG and the NASDAQ-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Sports Ventures Acquisition Corp. mutually agreed to call off a previously unveiled business combination that would have taken DNEG public in a $1.7 billion deal.
In the VFX industry, since 2021, DNEG and Dimension Studios have delivered virtual production work on such shows as Masters of the Air (Apple TV+), Those About to Die (Peacock), Here (Sony Pictures), Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix), No Way Up (Altitude Film Entertainment), Devotion (Sony Pictures) and The Muppets Mayhem (Disney+).
The investment from the Al Saqar Group, a diversified business group in the United Arab Emirates, puts the value of of the DNEG Group at over $2 billion, the entertainment technologies company said. DNEG Chairman and CEO Namit Malhotra will continue to lead the company, while Nabil Kobeissi and Edouard Zard from the Al Saqar Group joining his board of directors.
“This investment will accelerate our plans to further drive the DNEG Group’s existing activities and enable the group to expand its offering, both in terms of the services we provide and the markets we operate in. We are building on our success with the opening of a studio in Abu Dhabi, bringing content creation and technological capabilities to the region, positioning us as a leader there, and allowing us to leverage our global capabilities like no other,” Malhotra said in a statement on Tuesday.