Spline Raises $15 Million in Seed Round to Expand 3D Design Platform
A User-Friendly Platform for 3D Design
Export and the Future of Spline
Impressive User Community and Growth Potential
Spline, a no-code design tool for creating 3D assets, recently announced that it has raised $15 million in a seed round led by Gradient Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from First Round Capital, NXTP, Chapter One, Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch, Y Combinator, Webflow CEO Vlad Magdalin, and Backend Capital. With this funding, Spline’s total raised now amounts to $16 million. The raised capital will be used for research and development purposes and to expand the startup’s 20-person team.
The founder and CEO of Spline, Alejandro Leon, stated that when they initially approached investors in early 2020, the concept of investing in 3D was met with uncertainty. However, the perception has since changed, and 3D has become a staple content format alongside images, audio, and video. Leon mentioned that a lot has progressed since then, which led to this successful funding round.
Leon’s passion for 3D, which he cultivated since childhood, inspired him to launch Spline in 2020. The objective was to simplify the 3D design process and make it more accessible for users to learn. Spline was accepted into one of Y Combinator’s 2021 batches and was launched in beta last March. The platform offers a variety of features that enable users to create 3D objects, edit materials, add interactivity, create animations, and export projects directly from a web browser. It allows collaboration, real-time physics simulations, and interactions between assets for a seamless workflow.
Spline provides easy exporting options for designs, allowing image files, GIFs, and more, or embedding them in webpages using a few lines of code. In terms of future developments, Leon believes that generative AI is the next logical step for Spline’s platform. The company has recently integrated AI style transfer and AI texture tools, and is exploring the use of prompts for content creation using large language models. Spline aims to leverage AI capabilities to simplify the complexities of 3D design, making it more accessible for everyone.
Spline has attracted over 1 million creators to its platform, a significant achievement that caught the attention of Gradient Ventures. Darian Shirazi, a general partner at Gradient, expressed his admiration for Spline’s product and the community of creators it has fostered. He believes that the future of computing and communication is driven by 3D, and sees Spline as a leading force in the creative space, where artistry meets AI.
With a robust funding round and a growing user base, Spline is poised for further expansion and innovation. The integration of AI and continued focus on user-friendly design tools will likely solidify Spline’s position as a prominent player in the 3D design industry.