What Tafi does

Tafi is the parent company of Daz 3D, a 3D creation and digital avatar platform built over more than two decades. Through Daz Studio, the Genesis character system (Genesis 8.1 and Genesis 9), and an asset library containing millions of rigged characters, morphs, clothing, materials, props, and environments, Tafi serves 3D creators, animators, and game developers with software, content, and a tiered membership model (Daz Base, Daz Plus, Daz Premier). The platform uses a freemium product-led distribution strategy, with free Daz Studio downloads converting into paid subscriptions and per-asset purchases through the Daz Store.

Tafi monetizes through four primary streams: software and subscription licensing, individual 3D asset sales, marketplace commissions from third-party Published Artists, and enterprise licensing of structured AI training datasets. The latter is the newest and most strategically significant line, positioning the company's structured 3D library as commercially licensed synthetic training data with automatic ground-truth annotations for computer vision and generative AI applications across gaming, robotics, autonomous systems, defense, healthcare, retail, and AR/VR. Distribution is augmented by export bridges (Daz Bridges) into Roblox, Unreal Engine, Unity, Maya, Blender, 3ds Max, and Cinema 4D, allowing Daz-created content to flow into major production pipelines.

The company is privately held, headquartered in West Jordan, Utah (Salt Lake City area), with 51-100 employees, and is led by founders James Thornton (Chairman & CEO) and Matt Wilburn (President), supported by a C-suite covering product, technology, and strategy. Tafi operates a horizontal segmentation strategy across multiple enterprise verticals, with the consumer creator marketplace providing a long-tail revenue base and the AI dataset business representing the primary growth and strategic optionality.

Name

Tafi

Legal name

Tafi

Website

https://maketafi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Tafi, parent of Daz 3D, operates a 3D character creation platform with a two-decade asset library and tiered memberships serving individual creators, game developers, and studios. It also licenses structured synthetic 3D datasets as enterprise AI training data.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

3D Content Creation Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

UGC Game Creation Platforms (Roblox-like, Fortnite Creative, Core) (MPAFAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Synthetic Data Generation Platforms (HDAAALAA), Low-Code/No-Code Application Platforms (HDAEAKAA)

Keywords

• 3D character creation
• AI training datasets
• 3D rendering software
• Synthetic data generation
• 3D asset marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Licensing & Subscriptions: Tiered membership model with Daz Base (free), Daz Plus, and Daz Premier tiers. Daz Studio is free to download with basic functionality; premium features and content require paid memberships.
2. 3D Asset Sales: Daz Store sells individual 3D models, characters, clothing, props, and environments. One-time purchase model for individual assets with varying price points based on complexity and quality.
3. AI Dataset Licensing: Enterprise licensing of structured 3D datasets for AI/ML training purposes. Target market includes gaming studios, tech companies, robotics firms, healthcare organizations, and defense contractors requiring synthetic training data.
4. Published Artist Marketplace: Platform enabling third-party 3D artists to publish and sell content through Daz marketplace, with Daz taking a commission on sales.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tafi operates through its Daz 3D subsidiary to provide professional 3D character creation software (Daz Studio), an extensive library of millions of structured 3D assets built over two decades, and enterprise-grade synthetic AI/ML training datasets generated from those assets. Offerings are monetized via freemium software downloads, tiered memberships (Daz Base, Plus, Premier), one-time 3D asset purchases in the Daz Store, a third-party Published Artists marketplace, and direct enterprise licensing of AI training data.

Product overview

Tafi operates primarily through its Daz 3D subsidiary, offering a unified platform for 3D content creation and AI training data generation. The core offering centers on Daz Studio (including Daz Studio Premier tier), a professional 3D software platform that works in conjunction with Daz's extensive 3D asset library featuring Genesis 9 and Genesis 8.1 character bases with millions of rigged characters, morph systems, clothing, materials, props, and environments. The platform includes Daz Bridges exporters enabling transfer to external 3D applications (Roblox, Maya, Blender, Unreal, Unity, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D). Tafi also offers tiered memberships (Daz Premier, Daz Plus, Daz Base) providing varying levels of access. Additionally, Tafi has developed AI Datasets for Characters—a synthetic training data platform leveraging their structured 3D assets to enable AI/ML model training for computer vision and generative AI applications across gaming, VR, robotics, retail, defense, healthcare, and autonomous systems industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Daz Studio

Quantifiable outcome

• Unlimited scalable dataset generation without real-world data collection constraints
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• RobloxcoreTechnology or IntegrationDaz to Roblox bridge enables seamless export of Daz 3D content to Roblox platform for game development and virtual experiences. Direct integration allowing Daz users to publish creations to Roblox.
• Epic Games (Unreal Engine)coreTechnology or IntegrationDaz to Unreal bridge provides export pipeline from Daz Studio to Unreal Engine for professional game development and real-time 3D production.
• Unity TechnologiescoreTechnology or IntegrationDaz to Unity bridge enables export of Daz 3D content for real-time development in Unity game engine and interactive experiences.
• Autodesk (Maya, 3ds Max)coreTechnology or IntegrationDaz to Maya and Daz to 3ds Max bridges enable integration with Autodesk professional 3D production tools for film, animation, and visual effects.
• BlendercoreTechnology or IntegrationDaz to Blender bridge enables open-source 3D workflow integration with Blender for creators using free and open-source production tools.
• TafiflagshipOthersDaz 3D is a subsidiary of Tafi, a parent company providing strategic ownership and resources. Tafi is the controlling entity of Daz Productions Inc.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• TurboSquid: One of the largest 3D asset marketplaces globally, now owned by Shutterstock. Directly comparable to Daz's 3D asset marketplace business, serving the same creator and studio customers with similar character, prop, and environment assets.
• CGTrader: 3D asset marketplace with a large catalog of models plus a freelance commissioning service. Directly comparable to Daz's marketplace and Published Artists program, targeting 3D artists, game developers, and studios with similar asset categories.
• Unity Asset Store: Official marketplace for the Unity engine ecosystem, selling 3D models, characters, and tools. Directly comparable to Daz's asset store and a destination competing for Daz-to-Unity bridge users, with engine-native distribution advantage.
• Sketchfab: Leading platform for publishing, sharing, and discovering 3D models, owned by Epic Games. Directly comparable as a 3D content publishing and discovery layer, with similar UGC dynamics and overlap in target users (3D artists, game developers, AR/VR creators).
• Maxon (Cinema 4D): Developer of Cinema 4D, a professional 3D modeling, animation, and rendering package. Directly comparable as an integration partner via Daz-to-Cinema 4D bridge and a competitor for professional 3D artists and motion graphics creators.

Broad incumbents

• Autodesk: Owner of Maya and 3ds Max, both of which Daz integrates with via bridges. Autodesk is a broad incumbent in 3D content creation; while not a marketplace competitor, its tools ecosystem and emerging AI features (e.g., generative design) overlap with Daz's creator base.
• Adobe (Substance 3D Assets): Adobe's Substance 3D suite includes 3D asset libraries and tools as part of a broader creative software portfolio. Comparable as a 3D content creation and asset platform competing for Daz's creative professional and studio customers, with deeper tooling and brand.
• Unity Technologies: Creator of the Unity engine and Unity Asset Store. Comparable as both an integration partner (Daz-to-Unity bridge) and a competitor via its native marketplace, with major platform leverage over the indie game developer base that overlaps with Daz's users.
• Shutterstock: Stock content marketplace that acquired TurboSquid to expand into 3D assets. Comparable as a parent of a direct marketplace competitor and as a broader provider of licensed creative content for AI training and commercial use cases overlapping with Tafi's AI dataset value proposition.
• Epic Games: Creator of Unreal Engine and owner of Sketchfab. Comparable as both an integration partner (Daz-to-Unreal bridge) and a broader competitor via Unreal Marketplace, with significantly larger platform scale and first-party 3D content distribution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/maketafi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maketafi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Tafi