On December 14, 2020, Roblox Corporation, a global online platform bringing millions together through play, announced the acquisition of Loom.ai, a privately held company specializing in real-time facial animation technology for 3D avatars. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wilson Sonsini represented Roblox in the acquisition.

Roblox plans to use Loom.ai to accelerate the development of next-generation avatars. Loom.ai’s technology allows players to show their emotions and facial expressions in life-like ways. According to Roblox, “Loom.ai will accelerate making human co-experiences more immersive and personal, adding world-class facial animation technology as part of Roblox’s efforts to provide expressive emotive actions to avatars that will enable deeper connections for our community.”

The Wilson Sonsini team advising Roblox includes the following attorneys:

Mergers & Acquisitions
Rich Mullen, Partner
Brian Chan, Associate
Tracy Sevush, Associate
Ryan Cooper, Associate

Corporate
Michael Coke, Partner
Lianna Whittleton, Partner

Technology Transactions
Adam Shevell, Partner
Dena Smith, Associate

Tax
Myra Sutanto Shen, Partner

Employee Benefits and Compensation
Scott McCall, Partner
Jessica Bliss, Of Counsel

Data and Privacy
Matt Staples, Partner
Daniel Chen, Associate
Michael O’Brien, Associate

Employment
Matt Gorman, Associate
Heather Diles, Associate

Real Estate/Environmental
Susan Reinstra, Partner
Martin Sul, Senior Counsel
Sean Wilkinson, Associate

Anti-Corruption/Export Control
Anne Seymour, Of Counsel

Please see Roblox’s press release for more information.