Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boca’s Decora acquired for $100 million
CreativeDrive buying 3-D image firm based at FAU research park
Decora, the Boca Raton provider of 3-D images for online retailers, has been acquired by New Yorkbased CreativeDrive in a deal worth more than $100 million, according to the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University.
CreativeDrive, a global content creation company, confirmed the acquisition Wednesday through its public relations firm.
Decora arrived from Brazil in 2015 and is located in the Research Park’s technology business incubator.
“It’s very exciting. There will be an injection of new ideas to help build out the company,” said Andrew Duffell, president of the Research Park at FAU, which has locations in Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach and is home to the Technology Business Incubator.
Decora employs graphic designers around the world to create product images, visual scenes, 360-degree videos and augmented reality for use by online retailers. A consumer shopping for a farmhouse sink, for example, could see how it looks for certain cabinets through Decora’s imaging, which can give a 360-degree panorama of a room.
The company has made computer-generated 3D images for online shopping for retailers including Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Hayneedle, Jacuzzi and American Signature.
As of March, Decora was delivering more than 15,000 images and more than 7,000 scenes a month.
The deal with CreativeDrive positions Decora “to be the largest in our industry offering,” said Rodrigo Griesi, co-founder and U.S. country manager of Decora.
Griesi and Duffell said the technology incubator and research park was able to offer Decora resources that were critical to its success, such as connecting the company to U.S. retailers.
Decora was one of 50 companies selected by the Brazilian Small Business Administration to come to the United States. The company developed a proprietary technology platform that allows artists to work from anywhere. Many of the artists are from Brazil and Argentina, although the company operates out of Boca Raton.