Investment, scaling platform Anthill Ventures has partnered with film production and distribution company Suresh Productions to launch a business accelerator program called Anthill Studio.
Film actor Rana Daggubati and Prasad Vanga, technology investor and founder of Anthill Ventures will spear-head the studio. Anthill Studio is for technology start-ups that are building solutions for the media and entertainment sector.
“Anthill Studio will bring the best of tech to the media and entertainment world by engaging global startups in a 3-month long acceleration program. The accelerator will bring the very best of industry expertise, tech mentorship, business scaling and access to smart capital. Media and Entertainment is a key focus area for Anthill Ventures’ upcoming $100 million fund. I am personally excited by this joint venture between Suresh Productions and Anthill Ventures and look forward to co-innovating new solutions in this space,” Prasad Vanga said.
The studio will focus to co-innovate solutions in the areas of Filmed Entertainment, Television, Gaming and Digital Media. The Key technologies that will be focused on are Augmented & Virtual Reality (AR / VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Visual Effects (VFX), Real-time Cloud Rendering, and Big Data.
Startups with disruptive products will be mentored and accelerated by providing industry conections, technology mentoring, business scaling and access to smart capital. A few startups will stand the chance to raise over 1 million at the end of the program.
During the program, startups will get to work on real use cases and their products will be deployed in real client engagements during the program.
“The movie making business has gone through a significant transformation in the last 15 years with technology being the single largest differentiator. Studios all around the world have incorporated the latest tech in areas such as VFX, gaming, internet-based media, AR/VR, streaming, cloud tech, and smart content creation to produce movies and other content that have engaged audiences,’’ Rana Daggubati said.
He adds that having invested in tech startups for over 15 years and seen the first-hand impact of technology in films, the partnership with Anthill Ventures will be able to find the next set of technologies that will transform the media and entertainment industry.
Rana is currently the director of Suresh Productions, which is one of India’s largest integrated production houses based in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It has over 155 films in 13 different languages.
Through this partnership, Suresh Productions will bring the best of industry talent, facilities, testing platforms, and a large set of future customers for these startups.
Applications for the program close on April 19. The acceleration program begins on April 23, with the demo day on July 23.