Key Takeaways
- • Cartwheel, an AI-powered 3D animation startup, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures, bringing total funding to $15.6 million, with backing from Khosla Ventures, Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo, Accel, Runway, and other investors.
- • The company has emerged from closed beta with 60,000 waitlist signups and counts major creative studios—including DreamWorks, Sony, Duolingo, and Roblox—among its beta users, validating enterprise demand for AI animation tools.
- • Cartwheel's founding team includes Google and OpenAI veterans (CEO Jonathan Jarvis and Chief Scientist Andrew Carr), alongside Pixar alums Catherine Hicks and Neil Helm, positioning the startup at the intersection of AI talent and entertainment industry expertise.
- • The platform enables non-professionals and professional animators to convert video, text, and motion libraries into production-ready 3D character animations that integrate directly into existing creative workflows, addressing a scalability bottleneck in animation production.
- • Jeffrey Katzenberg's continued investment signals institutional confidence in AI's disruptive potential in entertainment; Katzenberg has publicly stated AI could reduce animated film production costs by 90%.
Summary
Cartwheel, an AI startup focused on streamlining 3D animation workflows, announced its emergence from closed beta alongside a $10 million Series A funding round led by Craft Ventures. The financing brings the company's total capital raised to $15.6 million. The round includes participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures, Jeffrey Katzenberg's venture fund WndrCo, Accel, Tirta, Human Ventures, and AI creative platform Runway—a noteworthy syndicate reflecting confidence from both AI-native and entertainment-focused investors.
The startup was co-founded by Jonathan Jarvis, CEO and former Google engineer who also runs animation studio Universal Patterns, and Andrew Carr, Chief Scientist with prior experience at both Google and OpenAI. The executive team includes notable hires from Pixar (Catherine Hicks and Neil Helm) as well as veterans from Riot Games and Sony's Spider-Verse franchise, assembling a team with dual expertise in cutting-edge AI and professional animation production.
Cartwheel's core offering addresses a critical pain point: accelerating the character animation process. The platform converts video, text, and motion libraries into production-ready 3D character animations that artists can edit, refine, and export directly into existing creative software pipelines. The tool is designed for both professional animators and non-technical users seeking to generate video content at scale. During closed beta, the platform was tested by teams at major studios including DreamWorks, Sony, Duolingo, and Roblox—each representing significant validation across entertainment, advertising, and gaming sectors.
Market traction appears substantial: Cartwheel reports 60,000 people on its waitlist to access the platform. This demand signals growing appetite among creative professionals and enterprises for AI-assisted animation tools that preserve creative control while reducing production bottlenecks and timelines.
The investment reflects broader venture capital momentum behind AI's application to content creation and entertainment. Katzenberg's consistent backing—through WndrCo's participation in this round and prior bets on AI video advertising platforms—positions the DreamWorks co-founder as a strategic voice advocating for AI's cost-reduction potential in media production. His public statements that AI could reduce animated film production costs by 90% underscore the scale of opportunity being pursued by this investor cohort.
The startup was co-founded by Jonathan Jarvis, CEO and former Google engineer who also runs animation studio Universal Patterns, and Andrew Carr, Chief Scientist with prior experience at both Google and OpenAI. The executive team includes notable hires from Pixar (Catherine Hicks and Neil Helm) as well as veterans from Riot Games and Sony's Spider-Verse franchise, assembling a team with dual expertise in cutting-edge AI and professional animation production.
Cartwheel's core offering addresses a critical pain point: accelerating the character animation process. The platform converts video, text, and motion libraries into production-ready 3D character animations that artists can edit, refine, and export directly into existing creative software pipelines. The tool is designed for both professional animators and non-technical users seeking to generate video content at scale. During closed beta, the platform was tested by teams at major studios including DreamWorks, Sony, Duolingo, and Roblox—each representing significant validation across entertainment, advertising, and gaming sectors.
Market traction appears substantial: Cartwheel reports 60,000 people on its waitlist to access the platform. This demand signals growing appetite among creative professionals and enterprises for AI-assisted animation tools that preserve creative control while reducing production bottlenecks and timelines.
The investment reflects broader venture capital momentum behind AI's application to content creation and entertainment. Katzenberg's consistent backing—through WndrCo's participation in this round and prior bets on AI video advertising platforms—positions the DreamWorks co-founder as a strategic voice advocating for AI's cost-reduction potential in media production. His public statements that AI could reduce animated film production costs by 90% underscore the scale of opportunity being pursued by this investor cohort.
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