What Ziva Dynamics does

Ziva Dynamics is a Vancouver-based, privately held software company founded in 2015 that develops character creation and human simulation tools. The company operates in the niche of physics-based digital human production, with technology applicable to game studios, film and VFX pipelines, and potentially adjacent simulation verticals. Ziva Dynamics is identified as an emerging player in the AI gaming solutions market, grouped alongside Inworld AI, Unity Technologies, Modl.ai, and Scenario, suggesting an evolving positioning toward AI-augmented character tooling. The company maintains a small organization of 11-50 employees consistent with a venture-backed, product-stage software business.

The company's products center on character creation and human simulation, the technical infrastructure required to produce realistic digital humans in 3D content workflows. Detailed product architecture, integration surfaces, and platform specifics are not disclosed in available source data, but Ziva's tools are commonly deployed within Unity-based production environments, providing a natural distribution channel to game and interactive content developers. The company's CTO, Jernej Barbic, is an academic researcher in physics-based simulation, signaling deep technical foundations in the underlying mathematics of soft-tissue and deformation modeling. Business model details including pricing tiers, licensing structure (perpetual vs. subscription), and customer segments are not publicly disclosed.

Ziva Dynamics has raised approximately $10.4 million across four disclosed funding rounds between 2015 and 2020, with participation from Grishin Robotics (lead on the $7M round in 2020), Millennium Technology Value Partners, Toyota Ventures, and TIMIA Capital. No revenue figures, named customers, or partnership disclosures are available in the source data, which materially limits visibility into commercial traction and the company's current scale. The investor mix — notably Toyota Ventures and Grishin Robotics — suggests strategic interest beyond gaming into robotics and simulation-adjacent verticals, though no concrete moves into those verticals are confirmed in the data.

Name

Ziva Dynamics

Website

https://zivadynamics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ziva Dynamics is a Vancouver-based software company founded in 2015 that builds character creation and human simulation tools for game studios and digital content creators, positioned within the emerging AI gaming solutions market.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Character Animation and Digital Human Simulation Software

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Software Publishers (5132), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Physics, Animation & Character Tech Middleware (MPAFAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

3D Character Animation (MPAHACAB)

Keywords

• Character creation software
• Human simulation
• Digital human effects
• Machine learning deformation
• VFX simulation software

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Ziva Dynamics develops software for character creation and human simulation. The company focuses on machine learning-based character effects and digital human technology used by visual effects studios, game developers, and other entertainment industry creators to produce realistic deformation, tissue, and skin simulations for digital characters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ziva Character Creation and Human Simulation Software Software for character creation and human simulation, focused on machine learning-driven digital human effects such as tissue, muscle, fat, and skin deformation for use in films, games, and other real-time or offline entertainment productions.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Unity Technologies: Operator of the Unity game engine, which increasingly embeds character animation and physics tooling directly into its platform. Ziva Dynamics is explicitly grouped alongside Unity in the AI-gaming source context; Unity serves as the dominant platform against which character middleware must position.
• Mixamo (Adobe): Adobe-owned automated character rigging and animation service integrated into the Creative Cloud ecosystem. Directly comparable to Ziva as a character-animation toolchain used by game and film creators, but distributed as part of Adobe's broader creative software suite.
• Epic Games (Unreal Engine): Developer of Unreal Engine, a major game and real-time production platform with strong built-in character, animation and physics capabilities. Competes with Ziva at the platform level for character-production workflows in games and virtual production.
• SideFX (Houdini): Developer of Houdini, a leading VFX and simulation platform widely used in film, games and motion graphics for character and creature effects. Overlaps with Ziva in physics-based character workflows for high-end film and game production.
• Digital Domain: Major VFX and digital-human production company with proprietary character creation and simulation tools (including work on digital doubles for film). Comparable to Ziva in physics-based character creation, but operating as a full-service VFX studio rather than a middleware vendor.

Direct peers

• Reallusion: Developer of Character Creator and iClone, which provide digital character creation and real-time animation tools for games, film and motion content. Closest direct competitor to Ziva in the character-creation middleware category, with overlapping target customers in animation, VFX and game pipelines.
• Inworld AI: AI-driven NPC and character behavior platform for games and interactive media. Co-listed with Ziva in the AI gaming solutions market context and serves the same game-studio and interactive-media customer base, though focused on AI behavior rather than physics simulation.

Emerging players

• Modl.ai: AI-driven game development tooling company. Co-listed with Ziva in the AI gaming solutions source context; addresses adjacent game-studio tooling needs with an AI-first approach rather than a physics-simulation foundation.
• Scenario: AI-generated game asset platform focused on stylizable, on-brand content for games. Also grouped with Ziva as an emerging player in AI gaming solutions, addressing a related but distinct layer of the game-asset creation stack.
• Soul Machines: Developer of autonomously animated digital humans for enterprise and customer-experience use cases. Comparable to Ziva in the digital-human technology category, with a different commercial focus on conversational avatars rather than production-pipeline middleware.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/zivadynamics
• Facebookfacebook.com/ziva-dynamics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ziva-dynamics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ziva Dynamics