Particle6 founder and CEO Eline Van Der Velden launches Xicoia Studio

In her keynote address at the Zurich Film Festival this weekend, Particle6 founder and CEO Eline van der Velden will announce the launch of her latest venture, Xicoia, the world’s first AI talent studio – designed to create, manage and monetise a new generation of hyperreal digital stars.

Sitting alongside AI production company Particle6, Xicoia will be a separate business focused on creating talent for use in everything from film and TV productions to podcasts, TikTok, YouTube, brand campaigns and video games - as well as interactions with fans.

Building on a proprietary avatar personality engine, "DeepFame", developed by Particle6, plus a direct fan engagement platform, Xicoia is now developing a scalable portfolio of emotionally intelligent AI personas. Unlike static avatars, Xicoia’s AI characters are developed with complete backstories, distinct voices, evolving narrative arcs, and fully realised personalities. These characters can engage in unscripted conversations, perform monologues, respond to trends in real time, and adapt tone and references to suit platform-specific audiences. They operate on a hybrid model of human creative oversight and autonomous AI responsiveness, ensuring cultural relevance and brand safety while maintaining creative ambition.

Eline van der Velden, Founder and CEO of Xicoia described the studio’s objectives: "With Xicoia, we’re creating the first studio where AI-driven talent isn’t just a gimmick—it’s living, performing IP with depth, humour, and narrative arcs. We believe the next generation of cultural icons will be synthetic: stars that never tire, never age, and can interact with fans. But just like the best entertainment companies, the key isn’t the technology—it’s the storytelling and the people behind those stories," noted.

Beyond its stable of AI-born talent and wholly-owned IP, Xicoia is also working with several Hollywood stars who wish to appear on screen as their younger or current selves—not just recreating likenesses but incorporating their rich, authentic personalities for them in the process. The company is also collaborating with estates to bring legendary performers back to the big screen, while offering studios a new way to reimagine and exploit existing IP by bringing iconic characters to life in a new medium. Early discussions have seen Xicoia attracting a great deal of interest, with exploratory conversations underway with Hollywood agencies, estates, and leading brands, as well as inbound interest from direct celebrity-led partnerships.

The company’s mid-long-term roadmap includes scaling to more than 40 AI personas, licensing its "DeepFame" technology as a platform, and expanding into scripted entertainment formats, live performances, and merchandising. The plan is for Xicoia’s unique characters to be part of a shared universe, where events in one character’s life may impact another, offering crossover potential, fandom expansion and richer narrative layers – creating a whole new world of evolving digital IP.