Corporate News

Nemetschek Group Expands Leading Position in Massive and Strongly Growing 3D Animation Industry with Maxon's Acquisition of Pixologic

- Creators of Academy Award-winning sculpting and painting software ZBrush now part of Maxon family

- Enhanced portfolio puts Maxon in better position for exploiting huge market potential in 3D animation and enormous emerging Metaverse market

- Joint offering is paving the way to extensive new target groups

Munich / Friedrichsdorf, January 12, 2022 - The Nemetschek Group (ISIN DE 0006452907) today announced that its brand Maxon, a leading developer of professional 3D software solutions, has successfully closed the acquisition of Pixologic Inc., Los Angeles, USA. Pixologic are the creators of the Academy Award-winning sculpting and painting software ZBrush. The ZBrush team brings decades of 3D industry expertise to the Maxon organization and also enables Maxon to play an important role in the huge, rapidly growing gaming industry.

ZBrush is used by respected film studios, game developers, designers, advertisers, and illustrators around the world. The industry's top creatives have employed ZBrush for a number of notable movies, such as Dune, Star Wars, Avatar, Game of Thrones and many more. Pixologic is a fast-growing and highly profitable company with an operating margin above the Nemetschek Group average.

After the successful integrations of Redshift and Red Giant, this acquisition is a perfect and logical strategic move that substantially completes Maxon's product line with 3D sculpting and painting expertise. It also firmly positions the company as an industry leader for providing superior creative tools to digital artists to the dynamically growing, €16 billion 3D animation market.

"With this step, we are amplifying the innovative and creative possibilities of our customers," stated David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. "By combining our world-class tools and people, we hope to delight creative artists with an ever-expanding and powerful toolset for their needs. With our enhanced portfolio, we aim to revolutionize the industry while also playing a crucial role in the huge emerging Metaverse market."

"We are excited to start working with the Maxon team," said Ofer Alon, Founder and Visionary of Pixologic. "Our synergies are undeniable - both companies share a great tradition of outstanding products, innovation, and a passion to serve the creative community."

"This is a big step forward for the Nemetschek Group as we are significantly expanding our leadership in 3D software solutions for artists and creative minds. The acquisition is a perfect match, which comes at the right time for us to take advantage of heightened market opportunities in our media segment," said Dr Axel Kaufmann, CFOO and spokesman of the Nemetschek Group.

About the Nemetschek Group
The Nemetschek Group is a pioneer for digital transformation in the AEC/O industry. With its intelligent software solutions, it covers the entire lifecycle of building and infrastructure projects and guides its customers into the future of digitalization. As one of the leading corporate groups worldwide in this sector, the Nemetschek Group increases quality in the building process and improves the digital workflow of all those involved in the building process. Customers can design, build and manage buildings more efficiently, sustainably and resource-saving. The focus is on the use of open standards (OPEN BIM). The portfolio also includes digital solutions for visualization, 3D modeling, and animation. The innovative products of the 15 brands of the Nemetschek Group in the four customer-oriented segments are used by approximately six million users worldwide. Founded by Prof. Georg Nemetschek in 1963, the Nemetschek Group today employs more than 3,300 experts.

Publicly listed since 1999 and quoted on the MDAX and TecDAX, the company achieved revenue amounting to EUR 596.9 million and an EBITDA of EUR 172.3 million in 2020.

About Maxon
Maxon makes powerful yet approachable software solutions for content creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, and visualization. Maxon's innovative product portfolio helps artists supercharge their creative workflows. Its product lines include the award-winning Cinema 4D suite of 3D modeling, simulation, and animation technology, the diverse Red Giant lineup of revolutionary editing, motion design, and filmmaking tools, and the high-end production, blazingly fast Redshift rendering solutions. Maxon's team is comprised of fun, passionate people who believe in building and empowering a successful artistic community. From its popular, inclusive events to its free Cineversity educational resources, Maxon recognizes that developing strong connections with creatives and fostering their professional growth is integral to Maxon's ability to stay on top of industry trends and better serve their customers. Maxon is part of the Nemetschek Group.

About ZBrush
ZBrush is used by respected film studios, game developers, designers, advertisers, illustrators, and scientists around the world. The industry's top creatives have employed ZBrush for nearly every major franchise including Dune, Star Wars, Avatar, the Marvel Universe, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and more. Its versatility has also made it an integral part of animated features such as Frozen, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Encanto. ZBrush has also been used extensively in Triple A games including Fortnite, the God of War Franchise, Uncharted Franchise, Assassin's Creed Franchise, Far Cry Franchise, The Division Franchise, and more.