Gracia AI, a London-based startup redefining volumetric video with 4D Gaussian splatting (4DGS), has secured $1.7 million in new funding from leading investors including EWOR and one of the original pioneers of NeRF. The funding will be used to expand the engineering team and accelerate the development of XR use cases and production tools for filmmakers, advertisers, and VFX teams.
The company raised its first $1.2 million funding round in early 2024, when it was experimenting with static Gaussian splatting and early prototypes. At the time, there wasn't even a concept of video splats. Twelve months later, Gracia brings dynamic 4DGS to standalone VR headsets, enabling seamless real-time playback without tethered hardware.
Ideas born from virus experiments
Gracia was founded by two close friends after a tech demo went viral. Co-founder and CTO Andrey Volodin, who previously helped push Prisma forward, posted a tech demo online. The clip exploded across the creator community, revealing an unexpected truth. There was a lot of excitement about 4DGS, but the tools to build with it simply didn't exist.
This response changed Gracia's mission. What started as an idea for “the YouTube of volumetric video” quickly evolved into something much broader: a complete production backbone for capturing, editing, and deploying 4DGS content. Together with co-founder Georgii Vysotskii, Volodin expanded the vision from distribution to creation, focusing on the missing infrastructure that experts have repeatedly asked for.
The strategy worked. Gracia currently offers an end-to-end pipeline covering cloud processing, studio-grade editing, timeline and camera control, and dedicated plugins for Unity and Unreal. The system supports real-time playback on Quest 3/3S and Pico 4 Ultra, and supports WebGPU-based display on Mac and browsers. With an average of 1 GB of files per minute, Gracia was one of the first platforms to make large-scale volumetric video practical across devices.
Shaping the future of the creative industries
Gracia's technology is already making its way into Big Tech labs, Hollywood productions, European entertainment brands, and fashion runways, including powering Karl Kani's world-first 4DGS runway experience. Its volumetric engine is also featured in the PortAventura attraction, one of Europe's leading theme parks.
Beyond the experiment, the economic impact is gaining attention. Virtual sets built through 4DGS eliminate the need for costly on-location shoots, saving production costs between $30,000 and $70,000 per session. Fast and flexible camera control in post-production avoids $50,000 to $100,000 worth of reshoots per day. Robotic camera systems, a staple of high-end shoots, are also replaceable, saving up to $15,000 per shot. Character-driven workflows are also reduced by 30-50%, significantly reducing post-production budgets.
With more than 50 million next-generation headsets already shipped and expected to reach nearly 100 million by mid-decade, the race for volume content is accelerating. Gracia's infrastructure gives studios, creators, and developers the foundation they lack to sustain themselves.
“Volumetric video has been around for 10 years, but quality and performance limitations have held it back,” said co-founder Georgii Vysotskii. “Gaussian splatting finally bridges that gap, and Gracia brings it to production.”
“Previous versions struggled with fast, complex motion because they required an excessive number of Gaussians or produced visible artifacts. Our latest release finally solves this problem. Footage captured at 50fps can now be played back in ultra-smooth slow motion with minimal artifacts while preserving detail. This allows 4DGS becomes viable in high-demand use cases such as sports and cinema,” added Anton Fonin, Research and Development at Gracia.
“The quality that Gracia delivers in VR is unparalleled,” said Tipatat Chennavasin, general partner at The Venture Reality Fund. “This is some of the most impressive volumetric content I've ever experienced on an XR headset.”
