Cartwheel
8 known investors
Cartwheel is a browser-based AI platform that turns text, video and motion libraries into editable, rigged 3D character animation.
Also known as Cartwheel Animation
Founders & leadership
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 4
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Cartwheel develops a browser-based platform that generates 3D character animation from text prompts, video input, or selections from a motion library. Rather than producing pixels alone, the system synthesizes motion on editable 3D assets, so users can adjust the character, camera angle, motion speed, background and aspect ratio, and add text with customizable typography after generation. The platform also includes a character generator trained on licensed 3D assets, into which users can upload sketches or models and receive automatically rigged characters ready for animation.
The product targets both professional and less technical users: it supports export into industry-standard tools and game engines including Maya, Unreal Engine, Unity and Blender, and is positioned as complementary to existing 3D animation software and compatible with established animation pipelines. Stated application areas include feature animation, game development, VR and AR, films, music videos, advertising, social content, and, per investors, potential uses in marketing, education and e-commerce. Company documentation covers workflows such as video-to-motion generation, character posing and image rendering, uploading custom characters, downloading animations in supported file formats, and managing settings for characters, environments and playback. An API allowing developers to embed Cartwheel into games and other interactive environments was described in May 2025 as planned for later that year.
Founding story
Cartwheel was started in 2023 by Andrew Carr, previously a scientist at OpenAI where he worked on code generation tools, and Jonathan Jarvis, a designer who was a founding member of Google Creative Lab and later led the animation studio Universal Pattern. Carr described the founding motivation as animators' frustration that routine tasks require large teams and weeks of effort using software that has changed little in two decades.
Business model
Cartwheel offers self-serve access to its animation platform, which users sign up for and operate in the browser; a developer API was planned to let third parties integrate the technology into games and interactive environments.
Traction
More than 8,000 beta users participated in the early access program during the closed beta, including artists employed at Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Roblox, Duolingo and Take-Two. The company reports reducing common animation tasks from hours or days to minutes.
Latest developments
In May 2025 Cartwheel exited stealth, publicly released its first AI-driven 3D character animation toolset following the closed beta, and announced a $10 million round led by Craft Ventures with WndrCo, Tirta Ventures and Runway, plus existing investors Accel, Khosla Ventures and Human Ventures. An API for developer integration was slated for release later in 2025.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Cartwheel competes in AI-assisted 3D animation alongside Anything World, which focuses on auto-rigging and animating assets for Unity and Unreal, and Wonder Dynamics, now part of Autodesk, which inserts CG characters into live-action footage. All are oriented toward professional animators working on video games and background characters in commercial animation.
Cartwheel generates motion on editable, rigged 3D assets rather than rendered pixels, allowing large post-generation edits and export into standard pipelines, and its character generator is trained on licensed, paid 3D data. The team combines AI research and design backgrounds with animation veterans from Pixar, Riot Games, Sony and Unity, including head of animation innovation Catherine Hicks (Coco, Toy Story 3, Inside Out) and head of interactive animation Neil Helm (Inside Out 2, Turning Red, Up).
Technology
The platform performs text-to-motion generation, motion remixing, video-to-motion conversion and in-browser character rigging, producing rigged 3D character animations that remain fully editable and exportable. Rigging is automated so characters can be animated immediately after creation. The character generator is trained on licensed, paid 3D assets, an approach the founders emphasized in the context of legal scrutiny of AI training data. Outputs are designed to integrate with Unity, Unreal Engine, Maya and Blender.
Go-to-market
The company ran a one-year closed early-access beta that attracted more than 8,000 individual artists, including creatives at Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Roblox, Duolingo and Take-Two, before opening public sign-up at getcartwheel.com in May 2025. It also publishes documentation and downloadable default motions so prospective users can test pipeline fit before signing up.
Professional animators and studios working on feature animation, games and commercial animation—particularly background, crowd, prototyping and previsualization work—as well as advertising, music video, social content creators and less technical users building animated scenes in the browser.
Geography
Reported as New York City-based at the time of its seed round; the product is delivered through the browser.
History
The company was founded in 2023 and operated a roughly one-year closed beta. It raised $5.6 million in seed funding led by Accel, and in May 2025 emerged from stealth alongside a $10 million round led by Craft Ventures and the public release of its first AI-driven 3D character animation tools, bringing total funding to $15.6 million.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsRound led by Craft Ventures with WndrCo, Tirta Ventures and Runway, and participation from existing investors Accel, Khosla Ventures and Human Ventures, bringing total funding to $15.6 million.
$10M source ↗
Catherine Hicks (Coco, Toy Story 3, Inside Out) joined as head of animation innovation and Neil Helm (Inside Out 2, Turning Red, Up) as head of interactive animation.
After a one-year closed beta with 8,000 artists, Cartwheel opened public access to its browser-based platform for generating rigged 3D character animation from text, video and motion libraries, with exports to tools such as Maya and Unreal.
Seed funding led by Accel with Khosla Ventures, Human Ventures, Heretic VC, MVP Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Pelion VC and angel investors including Drew Houston, Akshay Kothari, Amjad Masad and Kyle Parrish; proceeds earmarked for expanding operations and development.
$5.6M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Cartwheel documentation | Cartwheeldocs.getcartwheel.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cartwheel do?
- Cartwheel is a browser-based AI platform that turns text, video and motion libraries into editable, rigged 3D character animation.
- Who founded Cartwheel?
- Cartwheel was founded by Alex Vasilkin.
- Who are Cartwheel's investors?
- Cartwheel's investors include Accel, Craft Ventures, TIRTA Ventures, Human Ventures.