GenArts Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SpeedSix Software Limited. As of today, all SpeedSix employees will join the GenArts team and remain in the U.K. In addition, SpeedSix's renowned Monsters and Raptors visual effects will be sold and supported in their current form alongside GenArts Sapphire, creating a family of state-of-the-art image processing and synthesis effects software.
The acquisition is part of GenArts' aggressive growth strategy fueled by last year's investment from Insight Venture Partners of New York. CEO Katherine Hays took the reins in June 2008 and announced her intent to accelerate the company's growth via acquisitions and strategic partnerships.
SpeedSix's Monsters and Raptors plug-ins feature powerful tools including retiming, particle effects, lens distortion matching, fire, and organic fluid backgrounds. Monsters and Raptors have been used throughout the film and video industry to create effects for some of the most popular movies, television and advertising produced in the industry.
