Creating animation typically involves a lengthy, complex process. From storyboarding and rendering to lighting and final composition, producing even a single animated scene can take substantial effort. Directors wanting to experiment with alternative scene takes often send teams back to tweak numerous elements, extending production timelines significantly.
Recognizing this challenge, Cheehoo, an innovative AI animation startup, aims to revolutionize animation creation. Founded by seasoned Hollywood executives and technology experts, Cheehoo just secured $10 million in funding led by venture capital firm Greycroft. Additional investors in this funding round include Point72 Ventures, Basis Set, Headline Asia, Powerhouse Capital, Playground Productions, and Rideback.
Cheehoo emerged from the renowned production company Rideback, creators of the highly successful Lego Movie franchise. Rideback co-CEOs Michael LoFaso and Jonathan Eirich joined forces with Rideback co-founder Dan Lin to launch Cheehoo. The founding team further boasts impressive credentials with former DreamWorks Animation president Chris deFaria, along with ex-Apple AI researchers Hubert Tsai and Wei-Cheng Kuo.
In discussing Cheehoo’s vision, Michael LoFaso emphasized the startup’s commitment to empowering creative professionals. He highlighted how traditional animation methods have increasingly become expensive and complex, presenting significant hurdles for artists and studios. Cheehoo aims to streamline this process, creating intuitive AI-driven tools that integrate seamlessly into existing animation workflows, ultimately enabling creators to express their ideas more freely and efficiently.
Cheehoo’s platform is specifically designed to accelerate prototyping and iteration within animation projects. By simplifying tedious tasks like data annotation, file conversion, and ensuring format consistency, Cheehoo allows creators to seamlessly navigate different production phases without delays. Additionally, its AI tools directly integrate with industry-standard software platforms such as Maya and Unreal Engine, ensuring immediate visual feedback for edits and changes.
What sets Cheehoo apart is the flexibility it offers. Users have the freedom to activate or deactivate AI-assisted features, allowing full creative control. The startup leverages proprietary AI models to facilitate character and asset creation, and also provides integration with third-party models from established providers like OpenAI and Runway for advanced tasks including motion stylization, scene composition, and post-production enhancements.
Though Cheehoo has not publicly announced its initial launch partners, it confirmed that it is actively collaborating with various studios, creators, and intellectual property holders. Brentt Baltimore, principal at Greycroft, expressed strong confidence in Cheehoo’s potential to significantly reduce animation production costs. He emphasized Cheehoo’s unique capability to democratize high-level animation workflows, making them accessible to independent filmmakers and smaller studios without the traditional expensive setups.
Looking ahead, Cheehoo plans to extend its offerings beyond enterprises and professional users by introducing products targeted at general consumers. This strategic move positions Cheehoo in direct competition with other emerging startups in the animation technology sector, such as Accel-backed Cartwheel and Naver-supported Cinamon, all focused on simplifying and enhancing the animation production experience.
