Presentation software company Gamma has acquired Lica, an AI design startup backed by Accel, as it expands its research efforts around visual communication and generative artificial intelligence. Lica co-founders Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta will lead a new research division focused on developing more personalized, interactive, and multimodal ways for people to communicate ideas. The acquisition strengthens Gamma's capabilities as it looks beyond traditional slide-based presentations toward a broader range of AI-powered communication formats.
Lica Brings AI Design Expertise to Gamma
Founded in 2023 by Kalyanaraman and Mehta, Lica initially developed software that transformed screenshots and screen recordings into presentations and videos. The startup later shifted its focus toward helping e-commerce businesses produce marketing videos while maintaining consistent brand guidelines across visual content. Its technology centered on using artificial intelligence to simplify content production while allowing organizations to create tailored visual materials more efficiently.
Lica raised $4 million in 2024 from investors including Accel, South Park Commons, and Village Global, giving the company financial backing to further develop its AI-driven communication technology. The startup's founders had also developed connections with Gamma CEO Grant Lee through overlapping investor networks, as both companies received backing from Accel and South Park Commons. Those relationships ultimately helped bring the two companies together as they recognized similarities in their approaches to making sophisticated visual communication easier to create.
Building a Broader AI Communication Platform
Gamma remains focused on presentations as a major part of its platform, but the company has increasingly explored adjacent formats such as AI-generated imagery and more dynamic forms of visual content. Through the new research division, Gamma plans to examine how presentations could become more fluid, interactive, and responsive to the needs of different audiences. The initiative reflects a broader strategy to rethink digital communication as something that extends beyond conventional sequences of static slides.
The research group will also explore ways AI models can adapt communication styles according to audience preferences, objectives, and context. A presentation built around the same underlying information could potentially be adjusted for investors, customers, employees, or other groups without requiring users to recreate the content from the beginning. This approach could allow creators to generate a strong initial output and then refine its tone, visuals, structure, or level of detail for specific audiences.
Research and Distribution Come Together
Lica had been exploring AI models capable of understanding different communication methods, including video and design, while Gamma has concentrated heavily on building and distributing its presentation platform. Combining those capabilities gives the companies an opportunity to connect experimental AI research with a widely used production environment. Gamma has not disclosed a specific product roadmap resulting from the acquisition, leaving the timing and form of future products developed by the research division uncertain.
The deal also highlights increasing competition in the market for AI-assisted presentation and communication software. Companies including Prezent and Presentations.ai have attracted venture backing, while Gamma has raised $68 million and reached a reported valuation of $2.1 billion. As generative AI tools become increasingly capable of producing text, imagery, video, and interactive content, differentiation is shifting toward research capabilities, personalization, product usability, and access to large user communities.
Gamma's acquisition of Lica adds specialized AI design expertise as the company works to broaden its platform beyond conventional presentation creation. By placing Kalyanaraman and Mehta at the head of a dedicated research division, Gamma is positioning personalized and multimodal communication as an important part of its future product development. The transaction also reflects the accelerating evolution of AI-powered creative software, where presentation platforms are increasingly becoming broader tools for generating and adapting visual communication.