graswald.ai raises $3.3M seed round to scale the way brands create 3D content with AI

March 20, 2024

The Hannover-based start-up has secured seed funding to build Canva for 3D, leveraging generative AI to transform 3D creative processes for 3D product visualisation.

Hannover, 20 March 2024 – graswald.ai announced the close of a $3.3 million seed round led by existing investor Lakestar as well as Supernode Global with continued support from existing investor HTGF and further participation from Spatial Computing expert FOV Ventures, Robin Capital, Angel Invest Ventures and Notion Scout Fund as well as Arnav Bimbhet (ICONIQ Capital), Christopher North (L Catterton), Philipp’ Pip’ Klöckner and Patrick Andrae (CEO, HomeToGo).

In recent years, the 3D industry has experienced explosive growth, firmly establishing itself as the vanguard of the following media revolution. With an annual growth rate exceeding 30.6%, this dynamic sector is poised to redefine virtually every industry imaginable landscape.

Especially in E-Commerce, 3D is heralding a paradigm shift, blending the online shopping experience with that of an actual physical store. Businesses who start offering 3D visuals on average see a 24% increase in conversion rates, a 32% increase on the average cart value and up to 53% lower return rates.

Nevertheless, the creation process of 3D content remains stuck in the technological limitations of the 90s. Processes are entirely manual, thus susceptible to errors, often resulting in days-long challenges for the completion of a single 3D object. Additionally, this requires years of training in expensive and outdated software applications, resulting in the need for costly third-party agencies even for the smallest projects. On average, brands have to pay up to $5,000 for a single 3D product and wait up to a week of manual work until it’s ready. Scaling 3D product visualisation up to a product catalogue of hundreds to thousands of products becomes an impossible endeavour.

Since graswald started as a school project of CEO & Founder Julius Harling, the company has been setting new benchmarks in generating photorealistic 3D content, building a global community of over 170.000 3D creatives. With graswald.ai, the company transforms the 3D creation for enterprises in the e-commerce space, allowing them to create and share photorealistic 3D content on scale directly on the web, pushing the limits of 3D through AI.

graswald.ai is paving the way for a new era of digital content, where quality and efficiency coexist seamlessly. Their innovative approach is set to dramatically lower barriers for businesses of all sizes, democratizing access to high-quality 3D visuals.

Mika Salmi, Venture Partner at Lakestar

An example of a real-time 3D model generated with graswald.ai. Manual creation time: 4 min.

The expert team at graswald is on a mission to enable anyone to create and use 3D, allowing organisations of all sizes to start using 3D content at scale, lowering the average cost per 3D product by over 80% and reducing the manual work by over 3,000% as the entire creation process runs automated in the cloud compared to the regular fully manual approach. Additionally, users can use graswald.ai to generate 2D product images and videos from the 3D model for all their 3D products, allowing digital reshoots and content production on scale that so far required an expensive studio set-up and complicated logistics, saving hundreds of dollars per item.

graswald revolutionises enterprise 3D content creation, offering a platform that drastically enhances customer engagement through immersive visuals. Their AI-driven solution simplifies the creation process, reducing costs and complexities, and opens up new avenues in storytelling and product presentation, keeping businesses at the forefront of digital innovation.

Mike Sackler, Managing Partner at Supernode Global

3D as a medium offers unparalleled information density, mirroring our natural perception of the world. Yet, its adoption has been hindered by significant cost barriers for both companies big and small. With graswald.ai, brands can finalIy roll out 3D throughout their whole digital presence, increasing conversions and engagement without the huge costs and extensive production time being an issue.

Julius Harling, CEO & Founder of graswald

graswald.ai is redefining the way companies can create high-quality 3D assets and immersive end-user experiences at a significantly reduced cost and time compared to legacy approaches. I’m excited to support their vision for a more immersive digital world.

Arnav Bimbhet, angel investor in the round and former Partner at ICONIQ Growth

About graswald.ai
graswald.ai builds the next-generation automated 3D tooling for enterprise brands and 3D creatives to democratize 3D creation with its community of over 170,000 users. graswald.ai’s 3D AI pipeline enables anyone to turn physical objects into photorealistic 3D content within a few minutes of work, producing 3D content faster and cheaper with unmatched life-like results. Enterprise brands use graswald.ai to create product visuals at a lower cost and higher speed — from 3D viewers to 2D product images, videos, ads, or product demos.
For more information about graswald’s innovative 3D creation platform, please visit graswald.ai.

Contact for Inquiries:
Graswald GmbH
Julius Harling
julius@graswald.ai
www.graswald.ai

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances tech start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of its fourth fund, HTGF now has about 1.4 billion euros under management. Its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts support young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected about 5 billion euros of capital into the HTGF portfolio via more than 2,000 follow-on financing rounds. In addition, HTGF has already successfully sold shares in more than 180 companies.
Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries.

Media contact  
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH  
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager 
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121 
t.jacob@htgf.de