New Zealand-based creative studio secures support from new finance partner Hillfarrance Capital Venture to further its growth in high-end animaiton and VFX production.
New Zealand-based Floating Rock Studios Ltd., founded in 2020 by Laurent Herveic, Lukas Niklaus, Stephanie Parker, and Garrick Rawlingson, has secured a $1.5M NZ investment from Hillfarrance Capital Venture. The studio creates cinematic experiences using high-end animation and VFX techniques for movies, commercials, and lifelike video game cinematics,
“When we started investing in New Zealand entrepreneurs, we were convinced that there was a wealth of audacious and exceptional talent within the local, highly prestigious VFX sector,” shared Rob Vickery, Managing Partner, and Founder of Hillfarrance Venture Capital.
The studio’s founders brought extensive experience and impressive credits to their new business, having worked on numerous popular feature films for top studios. The foursome’s combined experience includes contributions to Aladdin, The Angry Birds Movie, Avengers: Infinity War, The Hobbit 3, Hotel Transylvania, Justice League, Jungle Book, Peter Rabbit 2, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
“After two years of searching, finding the team at Floating Rock, with their outstanding group pedigree as part of the top-tier artists who helped make Wētā FX the force it is today, proved that our hunch was more than correct,” added Vickery. “We are delighted and honored to invest in their team and vision for the future – and at the same time, investing in keeping New Zealand’s creative business community a place that the world’s best looks toward as the pinnacle of excellence.”
In a joint statement, Floating Rock Studios’ founders said, “Our industry is at the brink of a new renaissance and its future will be driven by those who have attracted the best artists – and with that, the best ideas. We are building our infrastructure to empower our team and unleash their full potential, and to build an artist’s dream company.”
The Hillfarrance investment is seen as crucial to Floating Rock Studio’s continued success (the company’s sales growth has increased 544% in its two years of operations).
“We have so much in the planning stages that will expand our customer pipeline, our IP development and our talented team that this new alignment with Hillfarrance is certain to make a seismic change to our company’s growth,” the foursome added. “As our newly appointed lead financier, we appreciate their principles that focus on genuinely investing in the people that make up our team at Floating Rock. We know this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, New Zealand-style.”
Source: Floating Rock Studios Ltd.
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
