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DHG WIRE

Hollywood VFX pioneer Digital Domain launches into European E-learning market with innovative Virtual Reality Technology

  • Subsidiary Digital Domain Capital Partners set up in Luxembourg to facilitate further expansion through financial investments
  • Digital Domain Capital Partners signs agreement to take a 19 percent stake in German EdTech company asknet Solutions AG
  • With its leading offering in visual effects, virtual reality and virtual human technology, Digital Domain will target further opportunities in Europe

 

Hong Kong/Luxembourg/Karlsruhe, February 18, 2021. Digital Domain, a global market leader in visual effects, digital humans, virtual reality and virtual production is joining the dynamic German EdTech and e-learning market. The Hong Kong-Group has announced today that it has entered an agreement to take a 19% stake in the German asknet Solutions AG through its recently established Luxembourg subsidiary Digital Domain Capital Partners.

 

Daniel Seah, CEO of Digital Domain Holdings Limited (Digital Domain), underscores the strategic value of the investment: “Digital Domain has shown a strong performance in its core markets in North America and Asia throughout the pandemic. Entering the European market is the next logical step to our success story: the European markets in entertainment, advertising and education are ready for our unique offering in visual effects, virtual reality and virtual human technology.”

 

asknet Solutions AG, founded in 1995, is a leading procurement, e-commerce and payment specialist focusing on the academic universe. The company offers software procurement and sales services for European academic institutions, including professors, students and alumni. The procurement portals offered by asknet are used by more than 80% of German universities of higher education.

 

asknet CEO Christian Herkel sees great potential in this new partnership: “The combination of Digital Domain’s groundbreaking technology and our position in the German EdTech market will have a real impact. The current status of home and distance learning clearly shows that the German education sector is ready for a more engaging and entertainment-based approach.”

 

 

Daniel Seah adds: “The COVID-19 crisis has shown that significant gaps still exist in the e-learning space. The digitization of education is here to stay and holds enormous growth potential. Now is the perfect moment and EdTech is the ideal space for Digital Domain to bring its unique offering to the European market. One of the numerous opportunities this new partnership between Digital Domain and asknet bears is the introduction of virtual humans into the sphere of education.”

 

“We will bring Hollywood technology to the educational space in Germany to fill this gap in the e-learning market. Through the application of artificial intelligence and virtual human technology, that will break the limitation of time and space, makes teaching more visualized, and establishes high concentration learning scene and atmosphere. Imagine your favorite movie character teaching school kids English, the real-time teaching interaction with students through virtual human technology will greatly improve students' attention and interest in learning, especially in demanding times like this.”

 

Digital Domain sees its stake in asknet as the first in many steps in its European expansion. Through its newly-established subsidiary Digital Domain Capital Partners, Digital Domain is considering further transactions in Germany and Europe. “Europe offers strong potential for growth – next to the educational sector, we believe that the fields of entertainment, advertising and media production are particularly attractive,” says Daniel Seah.

 

Digital Domain has grown to lead the visual effects industry throughout the last quarter of a century, expanding globally into virtual reality, virtual production and visualization.

 

The company founded in 1993 by the legendary movie director and three times Oscar-winner James Cameron as well as Stan Winston and Scott Ross today has offices in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montréal, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Taipei, Hong Kong and Hyderabad. Digital Domain’s groundbreaking visual effects appear in hundreds of iconic award-winning feature films such as “Titanic,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and recent blockbusters “Avengers: Endgame” and “Ready Player One”.