{"id":8216,"date":"2025-05-27T08:10:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T12:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T08:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T12:10:33","slug":"european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthias Niessner, a renowned AI researcher from the Technical University of Munich, has launched a startup called SpAItial focused on creating 3D online environments from text prompts. Niessner, who previously co-founded Synthesia, has raised a $13 million seed round led by Earlybird Venture Capital, with participation from Speedinvest and several angels. The startup aims to advance the development of full, coherent 3D spaces that can behave like real-world environments, a market with potential applications in video games, entertainment, construction, and robotics. Niessner&#8217;s team includes experts from Google and Meta, and the company plans to license its foundation model for diverse applications, while maintaining a focus on quality over quantity in team growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthias Niessner, a renowned AI researcher from the Technical University of Munich, has launched a startup called SpAItial focused on creating 3D online environments from text prompts. Niessner, who previously&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1434],"tags":[9909,4564,386,413,1306],"class_list":["post-8216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-global","tag-3d-modeling","tag-ai-research","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-global-startup-news","tag-seed-funding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matthias Niessner, a renowned AI researcher from the Technical University of Munich, has launched a startup called SpAItial focused on creating 3D online environments from text prompts. Niessner, who previously...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Startup Ecosystem Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Startup Eco System\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Startup Eco System\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Startup Eco System\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28\"},\"headline\":\"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":121,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/default-pic_big.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"3D modeling\",\"AI research\",\"entrepreneurship\",\"Global startup news\",\"Seed funding\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Global\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/\",\"name\":\"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/default-pic_big.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/default-pic_big.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/default-pic_big.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Startup Ecosystem Canada\",\"description\":\"Largest Startup Community in Canada\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28\",\"name\":\"Startup Eco System\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Startup Eco System\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.startupecosystem.ca\\\/news\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada","og_description":"Matthias Niessner, a renowned AI researcher from the Technical University of Munich, has launched a startup called SpAItial focused on creating 3D online environments from text prompts. Niessner, who previously...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/","og_site_name":"Startup Ecosystem Canada","article_published_time":"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Startup Eco System","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Startup Eco System","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/"},"author":{"name":"Startup Eco System","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28"},"headline":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup","datePublished":"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/"},"wordCount":121,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg","keywords":["3D modeling","AI research","entrepreneurship","Global startup news","Seed funding"],"articleSection":["Global"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/","url":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/","name":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup - Startup Ecosystem Canada","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-27T12:10:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/default-pic_big.jpg","width":1000,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/european-ai-researcher-raises-13m-to-develop-3d-model-startup\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"European AI Researcher Raises $13M to Develop 3D Model Startup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/","name":"Startup Ecosystem Canada","description":"Largest Startup Community in Canada","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ebf38463111787b50c88f6fcd33f9c28","name":"Startup Eco System","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0296599ae4d98b5f644a6ebd0f36ee52f2642dac74ac9fee14854ec4a47d61d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Startup Eco System"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupecosystem.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}