Gracia AI, the 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 NeRF’s original pioneers. The capital will be used to expand the engineering team and accelerate the development of production tools for XR use cases, filmmakers, advertisers, and VFX teams.
The company raised its initial $1.2 million funding round in early 2024, when it was experimenting with static Gaussian Splatting and early prototypes. Video splats weren’t even a concept back then. Twelve months later, Gracia has delivered dynamic 4DGS to standalone VR headsets, enabling seamless real-time playback without tethered hardware.
Idea born from viral experiment
Gracia was founded by two best friends after a technical demo went viral. Co-founder and CTO Andrey Volodin, previously part of Prisma’s breakout success, posted a technical demo online. The clip exploded across creator communities, revealing an unexpected truth: while excitement for 4DGS was enormous, the tools to build with it simply didn’t exist.
This response shifted Gracia’s mission. What began as an idea for “YouTube for volumetric video” quickly evolved into something broader, a complete production backbone for capturing, editing, and deploying 4DGS content. Alongside co-founder Georgii Vysotskii, Volodin expanded the vision from distribution to creation, focusing on the missing infrastructure that professionals repeatedly asked for.
That strategy has paid off. Gracia now 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, with WebGPU-based viewing on Mac and browsers. With files averaging 1GB per minute, Gracia is one of the first platforms to make large-scale volumetric video practical across devices.
Shaping the future of creative industries
Gracia’s technology is already permeating Big Tech labs, Hollywood productions, European entertainment brands, and fashion runways, including powering the world’s first 4DGS runway experience for Karl Kani. Its volumetric engine is also behind attractions at PortAventura, one of Europe’s top theme parks.
Beyond experimentation, the economic impact is turning heads. Virtual sets built through 4DGS eliminate costly location shoots, saving productions $30,000–$70,000 per session. Fast, flexible camera control in post-production avoids reshoots worth $50,000–$100,000 per day. Even robotic camera systems, long a staple of high-end shoots, can be replaced, cutting up to $15,000 per shot. Character-driven workflows also shrink by 30–50%, dramatically reducing post-production budgets.
With more than 50 million next-gen headsets already shipped and nearly 100 million expected mid-decade, the race for volumetric content is accelerating. Gracia’s infrastructure gives studios, creators, and developers the missing foundation they need to keep up.
“Volumetric video has existed for a decade, but quality and performance limitations held it back,” said co-founder Georgii Vysotskii. “Gaussian splatting finally closes that gap, and Gracia brings it into production.”
“Earlier versions struggled with fast, complex motion, either requiring an excessive number of Gaussians or producing visible artifacts. Our latest release finally solves this: even footage captured at 50fps can now be played back in ultra-smooth slow motion with minimal artifacts, while preserving fine details. This makes 4DGS viable for high-demand use cases like sports and film.” added Anton Fonin, R&D at Gracia.
“The quality that Gracia delivers in VR is unmatched,” said Tipatat Chennavasin, General Partner at The Venture Reality Fund. “It’s some of the most impressive volumetric content ever experienced on XR headsets.”
