LOS ANGELES / LONDON / ABU DHABI – FEBRUARY 18, 2025 – Brahma, a global AI and content technology company created by the DNEG Group, announced today the acquisition of Metaphysic, a leading developer of AI content creation technologies. The acquisition, implemented by way of merger, will accelerate the development of Brahma’s AI-powered products for enterprise, IP rights-holders, and content creators across industries, empowering them to create the highest quality content at scale.
The valuation of Brahma following the transaction is US$1.43 billion. Leading Abu Dhabi-based investor United Al Saqer Group (UASG) will come together with the DNEG Group to invest a further US$25 million into Brahma. This follows on from UASG’s US$200 million strategic investment in the DNEG Group in 2024. Metaphysic’s existing investors, including Liberty Global, S32, Rakuten Capital, TO Ventures and 8VC will become shareholders in Brahma.
Brahma will develop foundational AI, data, and content workflow technologies as part of a comprehensive suite of AI-native products designed to create user-customized content across video, image, and audio. Post transaction, Brahma’s global team will include more than 800 engineers and creative technologists, bringing together the award-winning innovation of the DNEG Group’s creative technology portfolio with Metaphysic’s groundbreaking AI technology. This is combined with CLEARⓇ’s impressive, purpose-built AI platform empowering rapid in-house AI development, and Ziva’s award-winning technology for the creation of digital human and character simulations. This announcement comes on the heels of Ziva being recognized with a 2025 SciTech Award by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, as well as Metaphysic’s AI neural performance toolset being honored at the Visual Effects Society Awards with the prestigious Emerging Technology Award.
Brahma’s executive management team comprises strong and experienced technology leaders headed by Executive Chairman Prabhu Narasimhan; Founder and CEO of the DNEG Group Namit Malhotra, who continues as interim CEO of Brahma; and Metaphysic CEO Thomas Graham, who also serves as President of Brahma. Upon integration of Metaphysic with Brahma’s technology and team, Thomas Graham will transition to become CEO of Brahma.
Other members of the Brahma executive leadership team include: Prime Focus Technologies CEO & Cofounder Ramki Sankaranarayanan, who will also become President of CLEARⓇ; DNEG Group CTO Paul Salvini, who will also serve as CTO of Brahma; and Ziva Director of Character Tools and Workflows Crawford Doran, who becomes Vice President of Ziva.
“With Brahma, we are taking DNEG’s multiple Academy AwardⓇ-winning visual effects and animation toolsets and marrying them with the incredible power of generative AI to create a suite of AI content products, including what we believe will be the industry’s leading photorealistic AI video creator,” said Prabhu Narasimhan, Executive Chairman, Brahma. “I am excited to take Brahma from a niche user base focused on high-end movie and TV production to enterprise and content creators across every industry. If you have the imagination and a story to tell, we have the tools to bring your story to life faster, cheaper, and better.”
“Brahma offers every business a strategy for generative AI content creation, from owning their data to delivering amazing, user-customized AI content across video, image, and audio,” said Thomas Graham, CEO of Metaphysic and President of Brahma. “By bringing together the incredible teams at Brahma and Metaphysic, we can deliver an operating system for generative AI content that starts with securing your IP and ends with new revenue streams built on a suite of products that deliver Hollywood-quality content and experiences at unprecedented scale.”
“Brahma’s acquisition of Metaphysic turbocharges the development of a truly game- changing suite of content creation products, fueled by the limitless potential of AI,” said Namit Malhotra, Founder and CEO of the DNEG Group and interim CEO of Brahma. “IP rights-holders and content creators across every sector—from media and entertainment, to retail, to healthcare, to education and beyond—will be empowered to create incredible content at a scale and fidelity that is currently reserved only for those with the highest budgets. Brahma will redefine how stories are told, through a platform that is purpose-built for the future of content creation.”
