Mirelo, a Germany-based foundation modeling company focused on sound for video, has raised $41 million in a seed round led by Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Atlantic.vc and TriplePoint Capital also participated, as did prominent angel investors Yariv Adan, Alex Berriche, Léon Bottou, Burkay Gur, Thomas Hofmann, Antoine Le Nel, Coco Mao, Arthur Mensch, Laura Modiano, Jakob Uszkoreit and Thomas Wolf.
Founded in 2023, Mirelo is led by CEO CJ Simon-Gabriel and CTO Florian Wenzel. These two senior AI researchers met in AWS Labs and set out to simplify a task many creators are familiar with: the slow, manual process of searching stock libraries and synchronizing sound effects frame by frame. Mirelo's product approach is to allow users to upload videos and generate sound effects synchronized with what's happening on screen within seconds, a capability the company positions as increasingly important as dynamic content expands across AI-generated videos and adaptive gaming experiences.
In recent weeks, Mirelo also released Mirelo SFX v1.5. This is a video-to-sound effects model available via a self-service API and the Mirelo Studio web app. Index Ventures says Mirelo's model is lightweight and requires “50x less computing than a typical LLM,” while targeting high-quality output based on external evaluations. Index also highlighted Mirello's stated approach to training data, noting that the model is built using public and purchased sound libraries, combined with revenue-sharing partnerships aimed at respecting artist rights.
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“Think of the difference between a talkie movie and a silent movie. A video without sound has far less emotion and atmosphere. Mirelo's first step is to democratize access and enable anyone to create the sound they deserve for their (AI) videos. But we also help professionals handle tedious tasks like synchronization while reworking audio, doing more of what they love, and being more expressive and imaginative to achieve. Our larger mission is to be the audio layer for all visual content, including videos, games, social media, movies, and more. ”
CJ Simon-Gabriel, CEO of Mirero
“Sound is too often an afterthought in video production, but it's what determines whether a video or game truly resonates with its audience. Mirero offers creators a new form of expression, allowing them to move faster and sound better.” The team led by CJ and Florian combines cutting-edge AI expertise with an unparalleled focus on the emotional power of audio. It's a combination that reshapes the way the world experiences sound. ”
Georgia Stevenson, Index Ventures Partner
