Zibra
Founded 2021 Β· 27 employees on LinkedIn Β· 5 known investors
Zibra AI develops ZibraVDB, a GPU-accelerated compression and real-time decompression technology for volumetric VFX (smoke, fire, fog, explosions) that integrates into tools like Unreal Engine, Houdini, and Gaffer via plugins and an SDK. It serves virtual production filmmakers, game studios, and VFX pipelines by shrinking OpenVDB asset sizes while preserving rendering quality for real-time playback.
Also known as Zibra AI Β· ZibraAI
Founders & leadership
Zibra was founded in 2021 by Alex Petrenko.
Investors Β· 5
Also in the syndicate Β· 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Zibra AI is a deep-tech company developing compression, decompression and rendering technology for data-heavy 3D content used in visual effects, games and virtual production. Its flagship product, ZibraVDB, converts OpenVDB sequences into a proprietary .zibravdb format that is decompressed on the GPU in real time, allowing smoke, fire, fog and explosion effects to be played back interactively while occupying a fraction of the original storage footprint. The company distributes ZibraVDB as plugins for Unreal Engine (published on Fab) and Houdini (as part of SideFX Labs), a Gaffer extension for the SceneReader node, a work-in-progress Blender integration supporting EEVEE and non-real-time renderers, and an SDK for teams embedding the technology in their own engines, renderers or pipelines. The SDK is format-agnostic, ships with a sample C++ integration, and supports macOS, Windows and Linux with DirectX 12, Vulkan and Metal backends.
A second product line, ZibraGDS (Geometry Data Structure), extends the approach to multi-attribute geometry: a GPU-friendly compression, decompression and rendering solution for high-quality simulations and animations, positioned for real-time cinematics, virtual production, location-based entertainment, motion graphics, VFX, games, digital twins and machine-learning data generation. Stated capabilities include ray/path tracing, meshlet culling, motion blur, native material and lighting features, multiple streaming options, 60 FPS playback and combination with ZibraVDB.
Earlier in its history the company positioned itself around generative AI for 3D content. Its earlier product, Zibra Effects, was a Unity Verified Solution covering PC and Mac, iOS and Android, consoles and VR/AR, aimed at gaming, metaverse and professional training simulation use cases, and its technology was reported in 2023 as used by a community of more than 85,000 developers.
Founding story
The company was founded in 2021 by a team including Alex Petrenko, who serves as CEO and co-founder, and was built in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Business model
Zibra AI licenses its software to studios and individual creators. ZibraVDB is offered in a free Personal tier (Unreal Engine and Houdini plugins, compression and real-time decompression, floating license for two devices) for users under $100,000 in revenue or funding, and a Studio tier for organisations above that threshold that adds a local license server, SDK access, custom feature development, custom integration and on-set support. ZibraGDS is licensed per seat with published monthly and yearly prices β free for students and academics, $4.9/month or $49/year for Personal users under $100K revenue or funding, $14.9/month or $149/year for Indie users under $1M β while Studio/Enterprise customers above $1M negotiate a hybrid site-wide deal covering custom builds and tooling, priority build access, optional source code access and priority support tiers.
Software licensing: revenue- and funding-banded per-seat subscriptions (monthly or annual) for individual and indie users, and site-wide enterprise agreements with custom engineering, integration and support for studios, plus SDK access bundled into higher tiers.
Traction
Reported use by a community of more than 85,000 developers as of 2023. ZibraVDB integrations ship through SideFX Labs and Fab; the Houdini integration was developed in close collaboration with the SideFX Labs team. Named users and reviewers include Dimension Studio (which reports using ZibraVDB in effectively every scene of a recent in-camera VFX shoot), Tendril Studio, JangaFX and independent Unreal Engine cinematic artists. ZibraGDS moved from a stress-tested beta to a licensed product with published pricing.
Latest developments
ZibraGDS, described as the latest addition to the company's rendering and data optimisation suite, has exited beta into general licensing with published per-seat monthly and annual pricing, educational free access and site-wide enterprise deals, and is positioned for use alongside ZibraVDB. ZibraVDB integrations for Unreal Engine and Houdini are shipping, the Gaffer extension and SDK are available on request, and a Blender integration is in progress.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Zibra AI positions its technology as infrastructure sitting beneath existing VFX pipelines rather than as an authoring tool, integrating with Unreal Engine, Houdini, Blender and Gaffer. Practitioner testimonials frame ZibraVDB as enabling truly volumetric real-time effects beyond what game engines natively support, including scene-scale mist and blowing sand used across a virtual production shoot.
Combination of high compression ratios with real-time GPU decompression and rendering, deterministic output, drag-and-drop use of compressed volumetrics directly in Unreal Engine, format-agnostic SDK across three operating systems and three graphics APIs, and first-party integrations inside widely used tools (SideFX Labs, Fab).
Technology
Proprietary GPU-accelerated compression with real-time decompression. ZibraVDB compresses OpenVDB sequences into the .zibravdb format, with the company citing cinematic fidelity at around 5% of original size and comparison figures ranging from 9.3MB to 2.5MB against a 191MB source asset, alongside deterministic, predictable output quality. The SDK streams and stores compressed data and decompresses on demand, is format-agnostic, and supports DirectX 12, Vulkan and Metal on Windows, macOS and Linux. ZibraGDS applies a comparable compression engine and rendering pipeline to multi-attribute geometry, with the company citing 5-10x faster rendering and 80-93% smaller data footprints, unlimited resolution in higher tiers, and vertex-per-frame caps in lower ones.
Go-to-market
Distribution runs through established DCC and engine ecosystems β the Unreal Engine plugin is available on Fab and the Houdini integration ships as part of SideFX Labs β supplemented by direct sales via demo bookings, request-access gating for the SDK and Gaffer extension, free tiers for students and small users to seed adoption, and endorsements from technical directors at studios such as SideFX, Dimension Studio, Tendril Studio and JangaFX.
Virtual production and in-camera VFX teams, game studios, feature and episodic VFX houses, real-time cinematics and motion graphics artists, location-based entertainment producers, and digital twin and machine-learning pipelines requiring synthetic data; earlier positioning also targeted game and metaverse developers via Unity.
Geography
Headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, and described as a Ukrainian company continuing to raise capital and operate under wartime conditions; it was the only Eastern European participant in a16z's first Speedrun cohort, whose Demo Day was held in Los Angeles. Customers and reviewers are international.
History
Founded in 2021. In November 2022 the company raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round and in December 2022 received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games. In 2023 it was accepted into the inaugural a16z Speedrun accelerator β one of 32 companies selected from 1,600 applicants β receiving a $500,000 initial investment that opened its seed round and brought total investment to $2.5 million; at that time its flagship product was Zibra Effects, a Unity Verified Solution for generative 3D assets and interactive VFX. The company subsequently focused on volumetric data optimisation with ZibraVDB and later added ZibraGDS for geometry sequences.
Risks & controversies
The company operates from Kyiv, Ukraine, and its fundraising and operations have been carried out under wartime conditions, described in press coverage as an exceptional challenge. Its product focus has shifted materially since 2023, from the Unity-based generative-AI Zibra Effects product to compression and rendering technology for volumetric and geometry data. Compression ratio, speed and size-reduction figures cited are company-provided.
Compiled by commissioned research from 9 cited public sources β 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 β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 7
launches, deals, and filingsZibraGDS (Geometry Data Structure), a GPU-friendly multi-attribute geometry compression, decompression and rendering solution for Unreal Engine, is offered with educational, personal, indie and studio/enterprise licenses following a beta period.
Zibra AI announced it had completed the first a16z Speedrun accelerator, receiving a $500,000 initial investment that opened its current seed round and brought total investment to date to $2.5 million. The company was one of 32 selected from 1,600 applicants and pitched at the Speedrun Demo Day in Los Angeles in June 2023.
$500K source β
Announced a $500,000 investment received through the inaugural a16z Speedrun accelerator, kickstarting its seed round and bringing total investment to date to $2.5 million.
$500K source β
One of 32 companies chosen from 1,600 applicants for a16z's first Speedrun program; pitched investors at the Demo Day held in Los Angeles.
The company's then-flagship product, Zibra Effects, was a Unity Verified Solution usable across PC and Mac, iOS and Android, consoles and VR/AR.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
βΈResearch sources Β· 9
primary sources listed
- Zibrazibra.ai Β· web
9 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Zibra do?
- Zibra AI builds GPU-accelerated compression and real-time rendering technology for volumetric and geometry VFX data.
- Who founded Zibra?
- Zibra was founded by Alex Petrenko in 2021.
- Who are Zibra's investors?
- Zibra's investors include 1991 Ventures, Hartmann Capital.