Oxford Metrics, the London-listed smart sensing and measurement group, has acquired Captive Devices, a Salford startup that makes head-mounted cameras and software for capturing actors' facial performances, BusinessCloud reported on September 1, 2026.
The total consideration is up to £750,000 (about $1 million). It is made up of £250,000 in cash, Oxford Metrics shares worth £300,000 that will be issued quarterly over 24 months, and an earn-out of up to £200,000 in cash that depends on gross profit from sales of the facial capture system.
Captive Devices' founding team will join Vicon, Oxford Metrics' motion capture business. Oxford Metrics is buying the whole of the company's share capital from Greyhound Industry Ltd, EEInsights Ltd and Periscope Technical Ltd, and is not taking on any debt as part of the transaction.
What Captive Devices built
Captive Devices was founded in 2024 by three former Epic Games engineers, including Fred Isaac, who had designed and built similar systems before starting the company. It received support from the GM Business Growth Hub's innovation service in securing innovation grants.
The company makes professional head-mounted camera systems and software for markerless facial performance capture, used in visual effects, games and virtual production. Its first product, CoreHMC, records real facial expressions and turns them into digital animation data.
The pitch is simplicity. Facial capture has often relied on custom camera rigs, bespoke software, long installation and ongoing technical support. Captive Devices designed its system to work out of the box. The startup reported unaudited revenue of £500,000 in the year to April 30, 2026.
“This is exactly the kind of targeted investment we want to make in Vicon – adding differentiated technology and specialist expertise in an area that builds directly on our existing strengths.”
Why Oxford Metrics is buying
Oxford Metrics serves the life sciences, entertainment, engineering and manufacturing markets. Its Vicon business is a long-established leader in body tracking, the motion capture used to record how actors and athletes move.
The deal adds facial capture to that platform. Chief executive Imogen O'Connor said it was the kind of targeted investment the company wanted to make in Vicon, adding differentiated technology and specialist skills that build on its strengths. She said Captive Devices takes Vicon's capabilities from body tracking into facial performance capture and gives Oxford Metrics the chance to sell the technology to a much wider global customer base.
In practice, CoreHMC will now be sold through Vicon, which already has an established market lead in body tracking and customers in entertainment, life sciences and engineering. O'Connor said the deal broadens what Vicon can offer customers today and supports the platform the company is building for the future.
Because the share element is paid out quarterly over two years and the earn-out depends on sales, the structure also gives the founders a reason to stay and help Vicon grow the product after the sale.
Part of a wider push
The purchase was the first of two motion capture deals by Oxford Metrics in quick succession. In October 2026 it bought the assets of London company Move AI, which turns ordinary video into 3D motion data without markers or special suits, for £525,000 in cash. Move AI had raised about $17.5 million.
Together the deals give Vicon a broader set of tools for film, games and sport customers, who increasingly want to capture both body and face without suits covered in markers or complex studio set-ups.
A small deal with a short path
At up to £750,000, the acquisition is small, but it is a quick result for a company only two years old. Most of the price is in shares and performance-linked payments, so the founders' eventual return depends on how well the facial capture system sells inside Vicon.
For a startup selling specialist hardware into a niche market, joining an established distributor can be a faster route to customers than building a global sales operation from Salford.
