It's a family affair: Belfast-based RETìníZE renders £2 million as it emerges from stealth

Belfast-based RETìníZE has raised £2 million in a seed funding round led by London’s Sure Valley Ventures. The firm’s flagship offering, Animotive, uses VR technologies to, “allow anyone to be an animator,” with the new funding aimed at propelling a two-year growth and global rollout programme. 

Initially, a division of Wild Rover Productions, a Northern Irish television production house best known for the hidden-camera show Just for Laughs, since 2015 RETìníZE has been creating immersive experiences for major brands including BBC, National Geographic, World Health Organisation, Save the Children, BMW, Tourism NI, and Seagate.

Both RETìníZE and Wild Rover Productions are the brainchildren of 30+ year seasoned television producer Philip Morrow, and beginning in 2019 in conjunction with his son Jack (CTO), the startup has been operating in stealth mode further iterating into a tech platform thanks in part to a pre-seed investment from Edinburgh-based TechStart Ventures.

While exact details remain scant, Animotive promises, “an innovative VR SaaS product set to disrupt the 3D animation production pipeline, making it completely intuitive.”

​Alongside Sun Valley Ventures’ £1 million investment, a matching contribution was pooled from TechStart Ventures, VGC Partners, Clarendon/Co-fund NI, Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri (of The Amazing Race fame), Adobe Aero senior product manager Ben Morrow (son of Philip, brother to Jack), and a Dutch angel investor association of founders.

“We are thrilled to have Sure Valley on board as our lead investor - they have a deep knowledge of the creative tech sector and what impressed us most was the time they took to really understand and challenge our long-term goals and objectives,” commented CEO Philip Morrow. “This investment will supercharge our growth trajectory and will allow us to take Animotive to the international market.”