Hedra Secures $32M in Series A Funding to Advance AI-Generated Character Videos

Hedra, the app used to make talking baby podcasts, raises $32M from a16z | TechCrunch

People are using AI video generation tools to contribute to an unexpected new viral trend: podcasts featuring AI-generated talking babies. And one of the companies helping artists do this is Hedra. The startup, launched in 2023, offers a web-based video generation and editing suite powered by its Character-3 model, which lets users make videos with an AI-generated character as the focus, as well as transfer styles across images and audio. This is what people are using to make podcast videos like this one, in which an AI-generated dog talks about what it's like to live with a new baby in the house. We're not sure how much Hedra has benefited from this trend, but it's receiving ample investor attention nevertheless: the company on Thursday said it has raised $32 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz's Infrastructure fund. Its previous investors are participating in the round, and a16z's Matt Bornstein will join the startup's board. Michael Lingelbach, the company's founder and CEO (pictured below), told TechCrunch the startup was inspired by the gap he noticed between companies like Synthesia, which let users superimpose AI-generated avatars over presentations, and startups like Runway, which provide video generation tools for creating short clips. "I thought what if we did something at the intersection of video generation and 3D characters, with long dialogues and better controllability," he said. Hedra launched its first video model in June 2024, and quickly attracted investor interest, securing $10 million in seed funding from Index Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and a16z speedrun. Earlier this year, Amazon also backed the company through its venture capital arm, Alexa Fund. Lingelbach noted that the launch of the Character-3 model in March was a big inflection point (shortly after the company signed its term sheet with a16z), and is now driving a lot of user growth. The startup wants to use fresh cash to train its next model, which it says enables better customization, as well as develop technology to let its AI-generated characters interact with users. The company is now focusing on attracting creators and prosumers, and said it has received inbound interest from marketing departments of enterprises as well. While Hedra's own model is centered around character movement and expression, the app lets you employ other models like Veo 2 and Kling for video generation; Flux, Imagen3, Sana, and Ideogram V2 for image generation; and audio models from ElevenLabs and Cartesia for voice generation or cloning. Hedra's competitors include Captions (also backed by a16z), which is focused more on smartphones; Greycroft-backed Cheehoo, which works with Hollywood studios to create animated features; Synthesia, and HeyGen. Hedra claims the videos generated with its platform have more expressive characters than those made using its competition. a16z's Bornstein thinks that as the AI-powered video generation space evolves, we will see more tools focusing on characters, motion, voice, editing and the like. "AI companies can produce amazing clips of environments and simple actions. But they can't generate meaningful dialogue or animation. It's not just about making a video, it's about making a story that resonates. This is largely down to the people and characters in the story. That's exactly what Hedra is building," he told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.

AI video generator startup Hedra raises $32 million in Andreessen Horowitz-led round

May 15 (Reuters) - Hedra, an AI startup that helps businesses generate lifelike videos, said it has raised $32 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz's Infrastructure fund to expand operations and deepen its reach among marketers. The Series A fundraise valued the company at $200 million, according to a source involved in the deal. The round brings its total raised funds to $43 million, Hedra said on Thursday. The AI video space has boomed in the past year, with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's Sora and Runway's Gen-2 among the models racing to dominate the nascent industry. However, doubts remain over their scalability due to high computing costs and their ability to avoid the "uncanny valley", where near-realistic digital characters trigger discomfort in some viewers. Founded in 2021, Hedra is hoping to stand out with its Character-3 foundation model that blends text, image and audio to create lifelike digital characters. Businesses can use the technology to create animated mascots or professional spokespersons for their brands. "Getting over the uncanny valley of compelling performance is the hardest frontier in video, and with our Character-3 foundation model, we're devoted to crossing it," said founder and CEO Michael Lingelbach, a former stage actor. Hedra currently employs 20 people and plans to triple its workforce to support its growing operations. The round also saw participation from existing investors, including a16z speedrun, Abstract and Index Ventures. Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Technology

AI video platform Hedra raises $32M to build digital character foundation models - SiliconANGLE

AI video platform Hedra raises $32M to build digital character foundation models Generative artificial intelligence startup Hedra Inc. today announced it has raised $32 million for an AI platform that allows creators to generate lifelike and vivid videos of characters using text, audio and image inputs. Andreessen Horowitz's Infrastructure fund led the Series A round, with participation from the company's previous investors, including a16z speedrun, Abstract and Index Ventures. The round brings the company's total funding to $44 million since the last announced fundraise in 2024. Hedra launched in 2024 to build high-speed, controllable video foundation models focused entirely on character-driven storytelling. At the time, generating lifelike characters, including voices and applying the capacity of motion and expression was a difficult process. Since then, Hedra had also unveiled its first foundation model, Character-1. Now, the company has launched Character-3, which it calls an omnimodal foundation model for lifelike AI character video. "We're building the next generation of storytelling technology to empower content creators and enterprise marketers to tell narratives at scale on their own," said founder and Chief Executive Michael Lingelbach. "Getting over the uncanny valley of compelling performance is the hardest frontier in video, and with our Character-3 foundation model, we're devoted to crossing it." Since the company's launch, Hedra's technology has been behind the production of some interesting uses, including viral podcasts of AI-generated talking babies. According to Hedra, its platform has gained more than 3 million users and powered more than 10 million videos. The company offers a web-based service called Hedra Studio, a content creation platform, which offers the Character-3 foundation model to take multimodal inputs, including text, audio and images and produce lifelike narrative-driven videos. Users can start by inputting a script or uploading an audio clip. Or they can clone a voice using ElevenLabs Inc., Hedra's integrated voice synthesis partner, to generate a custom voice in the accent, language or emotional tone of their choice. The character can be created using Hedra's built-in image generator or uploaded directly. Character-3 will then generate a full-body or upper-body animation that includes lip-sync, facial micro-expressions and body language. The rest of the scene, such as setting, backgrounds, camera angle and motion, can also be controlled by the user on the web interface. According to the company, Hedra Studio provides a complete drag-and-drop command center interface for working with character animation, voiceover and environment controls. "This kind of creative agility is no longer just a nice-to-have -- it's essential for capturing attention in an increasingly crowded digital landscape," said Lingelbach. The company said it intends to invest heavily in pushing forward with AI model research for quality and controllable character video. The Hedra team has grown to 20 employees and intends to triple headcount by year's end.

AI startup Hedra secures $32 million in funding round By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Hedra, a startup specializing in the creation of lifelike videos through artificial intelligence, has announced it raised $32 million in a funding round. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz's Infrastructure fund. The funding will be used to expand operations and increase its presence among marketers. The Series A fundraising round has valued Hedra at $200 million, as per a source involved in the deal. With this recent round, the total funds raised by the company have reached $43 million. This information was shared by Hedra on Thursday.