Moonvalley, an AI research company that says it is developing a “ethical” basic AI video model trained only with licensed content, has announced $84 million in additional funds led by existing investor general catalytics.
The round includes strategic investments from CAA and Comcast Ventures, as well as AI cloud company CoreWeave. Existing investors Khosla Ventures and Ycombinator will also take part in the round, bringing Moonvalley's total funding to $154 million.
MoonValley unveiled Marey, an AI video model last week. Marey claims to be the industry's “first production-grade AI-generated video platform built for professional filmmakers and visionary brands.” According to Moonvalley, the company has collaborated with film production division Asteria (led by Bryn Mooser) to develop tools for filmmakers and Hollywood studios, providing “movie quality, creative control and commercial-ready output.”
Moonvalley said the new funding will help expand the Marey system. Expands the licensed content library. Develop API access for developers and internal platform teams. Build the functionality requested by studios and enterprise partners.
Moonvalley employees come from companies such as Deepmind, Meta, Microsoft, Tiktok, Disney and DreamWorks at Google. In the next phase, the company said it is hiring engineering teams and the support teams needed for enterprise-scale deployments.
“The funding proves that there's no need to choose between strong technology and responsible development,” said Naeem Talukdar, CEO and co-founder of Moonvalley, in a statement. “We are building world-class models while respecting our creative community. These partners help us provide studios and creators with a real alternative to unlicensed models.”
Allison Goldberg, Managing Partner at Comcast Ventures, commented: “There is an exciting opportunity to strategically partner with companies like Moonvalley, who are developing groundbreaking advances in media and technology. Moonvalley's approach to generative video shooting, combining respect for content creators, is in tune with the way the industry thinks about innovation.”
In a statement, Alexandra Shannon, Head of CAA Strategy Development, said: “AI's ethically leading and talent-friendly applications are top priority for CAAs. It's important to have an opportunity for these emerging tools and technologies and have a set of partners in line with the ethics behind AI.” “Moonvalley understands that AI should empower artists rather than undermine artists, and is excited to lead this new technology to our clients and the entertainment community as a whole.”
Photo above (l. tor.): Mikołaj Biākowski, executive at Moonvalley, Vice President of Research. Bryn Mooser, CEO of Asteria. Mateusz Malinowski, Chief Science Officer. COO John Thomas. CEO Naeem Talukdar
