Presentation startup Gamma has acquired Accel-backed design startup Lica to establish a dedicated design research lab, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Lica’s co-founders, Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta, will lead the new division, which will focus on advancing AI-driven visual communication tools.
Lica initially launched in 2023 as an app that transformed screenshots and screen recordings into project presentations and videos. The company raised $4 million a year later from investors including Accel, South Park Commons, and Village Global. In recent years, Lica pivoted toward helping e-commerce sites generate marketing videos that align with specific brand guidelines.
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A shared vision between two Accel-backed startups
Kalyanaraman said Lica’s ambition was to build AI models around communication methods, particularly video and design. The founders already knew Gamma’s CEO, Lee Grant, since both companies share backers in Accel and South Park Commons, which helped spark acquisition talks.
“We have a very similar North Star vision of wanting to make visual communication easy. We focused a lot on frontier research and making sure that became accessible to users. But that’s just one part of the solution. Gamma had focused a lot on building distribution, taking the application to 100 million-plus users. Given how fast things are moving, we decided to join forces,” Kalyanaraman told TechCrunch.
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Gamma plans to continue focusing on presentation creation while expanding into image generation and other communication formats. The company says the new research division will explore how presentations can evolve beyond static slides.
“Presentations for us are today a core use case, but how do we expand what presentations look and feel like, and how do people engage with them in the future? What visuals are possible? How interactive are they? These [questions] all require us to think deeply about the core responsibility of communication. This is why we’re excited to invest in this area, because we don’t think anybody else is thinking at that level,” Lee said.
What the research division will focus on
Mehta explained that the new research team will work on customizing AI models’ presentation and communication styles for different audiences and preferences.
“The point of the presentation is to communicate a large goal. We are thinking about building a platform where these two goals can be personalized to such an extent that you just get a really good output, and then you’re able to edit for different audiences,” she said.
Gamma has not disclosed specific products stemming from the acquisition, but the company indicated it aims to create fluid, multimodal presentations and other communication modalities.
Growing consolidation in the AI presentation space
The AI presentation sector has attracted significant investor attention over the past few years. Gamma itself raised $68 million at a $2.1 billion valuation, while competitor Prezent secured $50 million across two rounds. Presentations.ai also counts Accel among its backers.
The market is already showing signs of consolidation. Earlier this month, OpenAI acquired NextSlide, another AI presentation startup, signaling that larger players see value in this category.
For Gamma, bringing Lica’s research capabilities in-house could help differentiate its offerings as competition intensifies. The company’s existing user base of over 100 million people gives it a substantial distribution advantage, but the design research lab will need to deliver tangible product improvements to justify the acquisition.
The deal also highlights how AI design tools are converging with productivity software. As startups race to build more sophisticated visual communication tools, expect more acquisitions and partnerships across the space in the coming months.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The startup and AI technology markets are volatile and uncertain; readers should conduct their own research before making any business or investment decisions.
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