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Gamma Acquires AI Design Startup Lica to Establish Multimodal Research Lab

AI presentation platform Gamma has acquired design startup Lica to establish an internal research division focused on multimodal communication and automated layout models. The deal brings Lica co-founders Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta to Gamma to head the new research laboratory. Gamma reached a $2.1 billion valuation in November 2025 following a $68 million funding round, scaling its user base to more than 100 million accounts. The platform allows users to generate presentations, doc

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Gamma Acquires AI Design Startup Lica to Establish Multimodal Research Lab

AI presentation platform Gamma has acquired design startup Lica to establish an internal research division focused on multimodal communication and automated layout models. The deal brings Lica co-founders Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta to Gamma to head the new research laboratory.

Gamma reached a $2.1 billion valuation in November 2025 following a $68 million funding round, scaling its user base to more than 100 million accounts. The platform allows users to generate presentations, documents, and web pages from text prompts, with recent updates adding integrated image generation capabilities.

Multimodal AI layout and presentation workflow

Lica Background and Research Objectives

Founded in 2023 by former Microsoft engineers Kalyanaraman and Mehta, Lica originally built tooling to translate screen recordings and software screenshots into structured presentations and explanatory videos. In late 2024, the startup raised a $4 million seed round from Accel, South Park Commons, and Village Global. Over the subsequent two years, Lica pivoted to helping e-commerce enterprises generate brand-consistent video assets and dynamic marketing collateral.

Under Gamma, the newly created research arm will focus on developing models that tailor visual presentation structures, aesthetic styles, and interaction patterns to specific audience requirements. Gamma leadership indicated the team will explore interactive, fluid presentation modalities that go beyond traditional slide decks.

Generative Presentation Consolidation

The acquisition reflects growing consolidation across the AI-driven workspace and document generation market. In August 2026, OpenAI acquired presentation software startup NextSlide. Concurrently, competitors including Prezent (which secured $50 million across two rounds) and Accel-backed Presentations.ai have raised institutional capital to build automated slide generation tools for enterprise workflows.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sources

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