Synthesia is a platform that allows users to create AI-generated clips that include human avatars who speak multiple languages.
synthesia
LONDON — Synthesia, a video platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate clips featuring multilingual human avatars, has raised $180 million in an investment round that values the startup at $2.1 billion. did.
This is more than double the $1 billion valuation Synthesia received in its previous funding in 2023.
The London-based startup announced Wednesday that the funding round was led by venture firm NEA, with participation from Atlassian Ventures, World Innovation Lab, and PSP Growth.
NEA count Uber Portfolio companies also include TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. Synthesia is also backed by chip giants. Nvidia.
Synthesia CEO Victor Lipalvelli told CNBC that investors value the business differently than other companies in the sector because of the company’s focus on “utility.” spoke.
“Of course, the hype cycle is good for us,” Riparbelli said in an interview. “What’s important to us is actually building a good business.”
In contrast to companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral, Synthesia is not “reliant” on venture capital, Lipalberg added.
These startups have raised billions of dollars at astonishing valuations while spending huge amounts of money on training and developing basic AI models.
Synthesia isn’t the only startup shaking up the world of video production with AI. There are also startups such as Veed.io and Runway that offer solutions that use AI to create and edit video content.
On the other hand, OpenAI and adobe We have also developed generative AI tools for video creation.
Eric Liau, a London-based partner at venture capital firm IVP, told CNBC that companies in the application layer of AI have not received as much investor attention as companies in the infrastructure layer.
“The amount of capital that application layer companies need to raise is not as large as a company like Nvidia. So the valuation is not necessarily as surprising as a company like Nvidia,” Liau told CNBC last month. told.
Lipalberg said the money raised in the latest round of funding will be used to invest in “more of the same,” accelerating product development and investing further in security and compliance.
Last year, Synthesia made a series of updates to its platform. This includes the ability to use your laptop’s webcam or phone to create an AI avatar, a full-body avatar with arms and hands, and a screen recording tool where the AI avatar guides your actions. I’m watching.
On the AI safety front, in October Synthesia conducted public red team testing of risks related to online harm. This demonstrated how the company’s compliance controls combat attempts to create deepfakes of non-consensual people or use avatars to promote suicide, adult content, or gambling. did. .
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s test was led by Raman Chaudhry, a prominent data scientist who served as Twitter’s head of AI ethics before becoming known as X under the Elon Musk administration. It’s Mr.
Lipalberg said Synthesia’s focus on security and compliance has led to increased interest, especially from large enterprise customers in the United States.
Currently, more than half of Synthesia’s annual revenue comes from customers in the United States, with Europe accounting for nearly half.
Synthesia is also strengthening its recruitment. The company recently appointed former Amazon executive Peter Hill as chief technology officer. The company currently employs more than 400 people worldwide.
Synthesia’s announcement follows the announcement of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s 50-point plan to make the UK a world leader in AI.
UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the investment “demonstrates the confidence investors have in UK technology” and said: “This investment demonstrates the confidence that investors have in UK technology” and said: “This investment demonstrates the confidence that investors have in British technology. “It highlights global leadership.”