Bondware launches publishing brand, acquires 3-D catalog

By Milt Capps Last updated 10:38 a.m.

Published November 30, 2009

Bondware Inc. has launched its new RPublishing brand and has made a strategic acquisition of digital content.

Tim Choate, founder and CEO of Murfreesboro-based Bondware, told VNC the company has bought more than 500 3-D animation and illustration products from Orlando, Fla.-based Vanishing Point Inc..

The publishing business and content acquisition effort operate within Bondware's Renderosity division, an online community for 2-D and 3-D artists and and virtual bazaar for artists' products. Content and related applications range in dizzying variety from depictions of humans and fantasy creatures, to equipment, apparel, in-motion elements, weapons, everyday objects, landscapes and fantasy scenes.

Choate said he believes a "roll-up" has begun in the 3-D content marketplace, and "we're interested in being one of the big guys still standing" when the consolidation phase peaks.

Asked about Bondware revenue, Choate drew the line at confirming Bondware revenue is well "north of $4 million" per year. The company employs 14 fulltimers, as well as dozens of contractors, working remotely.

Earlier published reports suggest the revenue number is a low-ball figure, but one which nonetheless suggests at least a doubling of Bondware income in the past five years.

Renderosity Vice President Jenifer Carey (at left), 38, told VNC the new content, alone, could produce an increase of up to 20 percent of Renderosity business growth in the coming year.

Choate and Carey each said the consolidation which they believe is underway follows several years in which many artists launched their own e-markets. Carey said many of those creators have subsequently found management "not worth the trouble," in that it takes time and energy away from their passion of design work.

The company says Renderosity snares 1.6 million unique visits and 22 million page views monthly; and, has 630,000 active registered members and 1,300 content developers scattered among 198 nations and territories, with perhaps a combined 60 percent of developers based in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Choate (at left) has previously said Renderosity annual revenue is about 85 percent of the company's revenue, while Bondware's web-commerce software and services generates about a fourth of Bondware's profits.

Although Choate would not disclose terms of the deal with Vanishing Point, he said that VP owner John

Hoagland (at right), himself an artist, will produce content that is for exclusive sale by Renderosity RPublishing for at least twelve months. Hoagland has also maintained exclusive rights to a handful of his own products.

Choate and Carey have worked together since 1995, initially at Edge.Net, considered the region's earliest Internet service provider. Bondware spun-out of EdgeNet Inc., in 2001, and Choate cashed-out of his ownership position in the former parent firm, in 2004, simultaneously gaining full control of Bondware.

Choate said Bondware RPublishing competitors include New Orleans-based TurboSquid, which bills itself as the largest library of 3D content in the world; and, Salt Lake City-based DAZ3D, among others. ♦