From Santa Cruz to The Sphere: Visual Endeavors Becomes Part of Hovercraft Ventures
Hovercraft Ventures announced today it has acquired Visual Endeavors (VE), a Santa Cruz based design and creative solutions agency known for blending emerging technologies with creative vision across live entertainment, brand activations, and immersive art installations.
The acquisition brings VE into Hovercraft Ventures’ growing roster alongside recently acquired companies Raw Cereal, Hovercraft, and OMM. VE has been involved in major projects including the Backstreet Boys and Zac Brown Band residencies at The Sphere, as well as tours for Green Day, Deftones, and Morgan Wallen, among others.
Jeff Kaplan, CEO and founder of Hovercraft Ventures, said the addition of VE expands what the platform can deliver across experiences and events. “Aron Altmark has long been the secret ingredient for the biggest names in touring, masterfully blending complex technology with pure creative vision. Bringing Visual Endeavors into our roster adds a foundational layer of technical genius that allows Hovercraft Ventures to capture a greater share in the experiential ecosystem and will power the next generation of experiences from our entire platform.”
Santa Cruz has a long history of “small city, big output,” and VE fits that pattern perfectly. Led by Aron Altmark, Visual Endeavors has built a reputation for turning complex technical systems into seamless audience facing moments. Altmark said the move creates new opportunities to scale the agency’s work and deepen collaboration across the platform. “We’ve built our reputation by partnering with the best in the business. Now, as part of Hovercraft Ventures, we have a true home that gives us the shared resources and collaborative engine to innovate experiences, at a scale we’ve always imagined to our current and future clients.”
A key part of VE’s offering is its in house technology, including the PixelCannon computing platform. Designed for the entertainment industry, PixelCannon provides rendering power in a rugged and economical package and can serve as a media server, render node, and real time visualization tool. VE also serves as the official North American Creative Solutions Provider for BlackTrax and holds one of the largest rental inventories of the real time tracking technology in the United States. Hovercraft Ventures said the combined platform will help VE scale efficiently while expanding visibility for its technical solutions.
VE’s Santa Cruz studio plays a central role in its work. The space functions as a client collaboration center and research and design facility, and also serves as a public facing art installation. The studio hosts a large inventory of technologies from industry partners, allowing VE to develop and test solutions while welcoming guest artists to use the space for new creative work.
Visual Endeavors is another Santa Cruz success story: a local team doing world class work and growing into a bigger platform. The acquisition is a clear signal that the talent and capability being built in Santa Cruz continues to compete at the highest level.