Brahma's $1.43 bn artificial intelligence play: Metaphysic acquisition

India-based Prime Focus, a global content post-production major, announced on Tuesday that its subsidiary Brahma (part of DNEG) will acquire Metaphysic, a developer of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies for creating photorealistic content at scale. The post-transaction valuation of the combined entity (Brahma and Metaphysic) stands at $1.43 billion.

 

Abu Dhabi-based investor United Al Saqer Group (UASG) and DNEG (Double Negative) will invest $25 million into Brahma. Earlier in 2024, UASG had invested $200 million in DNEG. Meanwhile, Metaphysic’s existing investors — including Liberty Global, S32, Rakuten Capital, TO Ventures, and 8VC — will become shareholders in Brahma, Prime Focus said in a release.

 

“The acquisition, implemented through a merger, will accelerate the development of Brahma’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered products for enterprises, intellectual property (IP) rights holders, and content creators across industries, enabling them to produce the highest quality content at scale,” the release said.

 

Brahma, a global AI and content technology company, is part of DNEG, another subsidiary of Prime Focus. It develops a suite of AI-native products across video, image, and audio.

 

Its executive management team is led by Prabhu Narasimhan, executive chairman of Brahma, along with Namit Malhotra, founder of Prime Focus and global chief executive officer (CEO) of DNEG, and Thomas Graham, CEO of Metaphysic and president of Brahma.

 

The release further said that this acquisition aligns with Malhotra’s mission to position India as a leader in AI development, helping content creators across industries produce professional-quality content at scale.

 

“We believe in empowering India’s vast talent pool with cutting-edge technology, enabling them to excel across industries,” Malhotra said in a statement. “With our latest acquisition, we are making a bold leap forward — one that is set to disrupt the global entertainment landscape. This breakthrough unlocks a new dimension of storytelling, bringing our very own Ramayana to life with unparalleled visual fidelity and immersive experiences. Last year, we acquired Ziva, and now, with Brahma’s acquisition of Metaphysic, we have market-leading 3D and 2D tools to create ultra-realistic digital doubles of India’s most iconic figures across industries.”

 

Following this transaction, Brahma’s global team will expand to over 800 engineers and creative technologists. The team will integrate DNEG’s creative technology portfolio — including Ziva’s digital human and character simulation technology — with Metaphysic’s AI technology, the company said in a statement.

 

Brahma will also leverage the CLEAR platform, a market-leading AI solution for content discovery, creation, and management, supported by a global client base.

 

“With Brahma, we are taking DNEG’s multiple Academy Award-winning visual effects and animation toolsets and combining them with the incredible power of GenAI to create a suite of AI content products, including what we believe will be the industry’s leading photorealistic AI video creator,” Narasimhan said.

 

“I am excited to expand Brahma beyond a niche user base focused on high-end movie and television production to serve enterprises and content creators across various industries. If you have a story to tell and the imagination to bring it to life, we have the tools to help you do it faster, more affordably, and with better quality,” he added.

 

This announcement follows Ziva’s recognition with a 2025 SciTech Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Similarly, Metaphysic’s AI neural performance toolset won the Emerging Technology Award at the Visual Effects Society Awards, the statement added.

 

Malhotra also added that IP rights holders and content creators across industries — from media and entertainment to retail, healthcare, and education — will now have the ability to produce high-quality content at a scale previously reserved for those with the highest budgets.