More and more digital artists are thinking in the third dimension thanks to the increased demand for rendered images, video game assets, and an the growing 3D printing industry. You’ll find marketplaces targeted at one sector or another, but considering the overlap between 3D models, Vilnius-based CGTrader has put together a marketplace that is now focused on CG models, but plans to tie everything together.
Last week they announced a €185,000 funding round led by Lithuania-based Practica Capital, although the deal was closed about 2 months ago. With the funding round CGTrader plans to expand their team and add many new features to expand their reach and make their community more active.
On top of just bringing together these different 3D modeling markets, CGTrader is innovating with 3D assets by bringing in a new royalty model. “The problem in this industry is that the royalty rates for the authors are usually very low. So if you make a 3D model you would actually get only like 60% or 40% of the sale,” says Dalia Lasaite, who recently joined the startup.
Marius Kalytis, the CEO of CGTrader, has a background in CG designing and has come across this problem enough that he sought to come up with a solution.
“Our business model and pricing model is much more favorable and profitable for artists. Our competitors are much more like middle men, we are not. The customer and artist trade directly, so the artist receives 95% of the profit, giving them maximum motivation.
This sort of ‘open marketplace’ ideal is visible in a few areas. CGTrader offers statistics to sellers to not only track their sales, but to show what keywords, file formats, and items are the big sellers.
