Scoop: VR-powered animation studio Mindshow shuts down

Los Angeles-based animation startup Mindshow, which was using VR-powered real-time technologies to produce animated content partners like Mattel and Netflix, has ceased operations and laid off all staff, I’ve learned from multiple sources.

“It was a pretty sudden blow to all of us,” one affected employee told me this week.

I‘m hearing that the company was in need of and looking to raise additional funding this spring, but that money apparently never materialized. Executives didn’t respond to requests for comment, and an email to Mindshow’s PR contact was left unanswered.

Mindshow started out as a consumer VR company, with its app allowing ordinary users to host and produce their own animated shows from within their headsets. I wrote about that iteration of the company for Variety in 2017; the image above depicts two characters people could use for their shows.

Mindshow subsequently pivoted to use its tech for professional Hollywood productions. As part of that transition, the company also underwent a leadership change and a recapitalization.

One of Mindshow’s final projects was an animated documentary about NFTs called How The World Went Apesh*t, which was produced in partnership with Fremantle’s Original Productions. 

“I always used to say this documentary is going to put our company Mindshow on the map,” wrote the company’s CTO Bibhash Biswas on LinkedIn when the movie was officially announced two weeks ago. “So, this is definitely bittersweet.”

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