Synthesia is a platform that allows users to create AI-generated clips with human avatars that can speak multiple languages.
Synthesis
LONDON – Synthesia, a video platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate clips with multilingual human avatars, has raised $180 million in an investment round valuing the startup at $2.1 billion.
That’s more than double the $1 billion Synthesia was worth in its last funding in 2023.
The London-based startup said on Wednesday that the funding round was led by venture firm NEA with participation from Atlassian Ventures, World Innovation Lab and PSP Growth.
NEA counts Uber and TikTok parent company ByteDance among its portfolio companies. Synthesia also has the backing of the chip giant Nvidia.
Victor Riparbelli, CEO of Synthesia, told CNBC that investors value the business differently than other companies in the space because of its focus on “utility.”
“Of course, the hype cycle is beneficial for us,” Riparbelli said in an interview. “It’s important for us to build a really good business.”
Synthesia doesn’t “depend” on venture capital — unlike companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Mistral, Riparbelli added.
These startups have raised billions of dollars at staggering valuations while spending hefty amounts of money to train and develop their core AI models.
Synthesia is not the only startup shaking up the world of video production with AI. Other startups offer solutions for the production and editing of video content using artificial intelligence, e.g Veed.io and runway.
Meanwhile, OpenAI and Adobe have also developed generative AI tools for creating videos.
Eric Liaw, a London-based partner at VC firm IVP, told CNBC that AI application-layer companies have not generated as much investor hype as infrastructure-layer companies.
“The amount of money that application layer companies need to raise is not as large — and so the valuations are not necessarily as eye-popping” as companies like Nvidia, Liaw told CNBC last month.
Riparbelli said the money raised from the latest funding round will be used to invest in “more of the same”, further product development and more investment in security and compliance.
Last year, Synthesia made a number of updates to its platform, including the ability to create AI avatars using a laptop’s webcam or phone, full-body avatars with arms and hands, and a screenshot tool that has an AI avatar that guides users through what they want to see.
In terms of AI security, in October Synthesia conducted a public red team test for online harm risks, which showed how company compliance controls attempts to create false impersonations of people without consent or use avatars to encourage suicide, adult content or gambling.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology test was led by Rumman Chowdhury, a well-known data scientist who was formerly Twitter’s head of AI ethics — before he became known as X under Elon Musk.
Riparbelli said Synthesia is seeing increased interest from large enterprise users, particularly in the US, thanks to its focus on security and compliance.
More than half of Synthesia’s annual revenue now comes from customers in the US, while Europe accounts for nearly half.
Synthesia has also stepped up hiring. The company recently named former Amazon CEO Peter Hill as its chief technology officer. The company now employs over 400 people worldwide.
Synthesia’s announcement follows an unveiling by Prime Minister Keir Starmer A 50-point plan to make the UK a global leader in artificial intelligence.
UK technology minister Peter Kyle said the investment “demonstrates the confidence investors have in UK technology” and “highlights the global leadership of UK-based companies in pioneering generative AI innovation”.
