UK company Synthesia has today announced the successful close of its $180 million Series D funding round. The round was led by NEA, with participation from existing investors including GV, MMC Ventures and FirstMark, and new backers including WiL (World Innovation Lab), Atlassian Ventures, and PSP Growth.
The latest funding brings Synthesia’s total capital raised to over $330 million, valuing the company at $2.1 billion and cementing its position as a pioneer in generative AI for enterprise video communications.
This significant milestone will fuel Synthesia’s next phase of growth, supporting product development and talent growth, and drive the expansion of its innovative AI-powered video platform to meet the evolving needs of enterprises in several markets, including Japan, Australia, Europe and North America.
“This new investment will help us develop a new generation of AI-powered video experiences that are interactive, real-time, and personalised, offering possibilities we could have only imagined when we founded the company in 2017.
“I’m excited to bring these experiences to our over 60,000 customers, which range from the world’s largest brands to thousands of small businesses that use Synthesia to communicate internally and externally with unmatched engagement and efficiency,” said Victor Riparbelli, CEO and co-founder of Synthesia.
“NEA has a long history of supporting transformative companies, and we’re excited to partner with Synthesia as they shape the future of AI-powered communication,” said Philip Chopin, Managing Director, NEA UK. “We believe Synthesia’s commitment to enterprise-grade solutions and its impressive traction with customers – 60% of Fortune 100 companies are Synthesia customers – sets the company apart in a rapidly evolving market.”
“We are excited to partner with Synthesia and believe its groundbreaking AI-powered video platform is poised to revolutionise the way organisations communicate and create content. Synthesia’s ability to democratise video creation and streamline communication empowers any organisation to deepen interactions with employees and customers alike, no matter the language or location. We believe Synthesia has the potential to significantly impact industries around the globe, and we are already seeing much excitement from our corporate partners in Japan,” said Aki Jiang and Clifford Cohn, Principals, WiL.
“There are a lot of exciting developments in AI, but few are able to demonstrate real value and application like Synthesia,” said Momei Qu, Managing Director of PSP Growth. “We are extremely excited to be partners on the next phase of Synthesia’s journey and continue supporting the company’s growth and impact going forward.”
According to Dealroom, Synthesia is now the largest generative AI media company in the UK by valuation and the second largest in the overall AI category. The company has a global footprint, with offices in seven countries and customers across many markets and industries, generating just over half of its revenue from the United States.
Yoram Wijngaarde, Founder and CEO of Dealroom said, “Synthesia’s Series D signals that European AI is picking up where they left off in 2024. AI startups accounted for over 25% of European venture capital last year, up from 15% just four years ago. In one of the most significant technological waves in decades, Synthesia stands out among the emerging AI unicorns reshaping the landscape from this side of the Atlantic.”
Science, Innovation, and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said, “Synthesia’s latest investment is a powerful demonstration of how our Plan for Change is encouraging innovation and driving growth in the UK’s thriving AI sector. This funding showcases the confidence investors have in British tech, especially following our newly announced blueprint for AI, and highlights the global leadership of UK-based companies in pioneering generative AI innovations.
“Synthesia’s success story underscores how the UK remains the ideal place for companies to grow, thrive and lead the next chapter of the digital revolution.”
Synthesia also announced the appointment of Peter Hill as Chief Technology Officer. Hill brings deep technical expertise and a proven track record from previous roles as CEO and CPO at Wildfire Studios, as well as a 25-year tenure at Amazon and AWS, where he drove large-scale technical innovation and growth.
Over the past year, the company has made a series of strategic hires to its go-to-market, product, engineering, and R&D teams, including the appointment of a Chief Revenue Officer and a Chief of Staff. Synthesia now employs over 400 people across its offices in London (where it is headquartered), New York, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Zurich and Munich.
In June 2024, the company announced it had begun the development of Synthesia 2.0, the world’s first enterprise AI video platform.
Synthesia 2.0 reinvents every aspect of the video production and distribution process to help businesses create and share AI-generated videos at scale for use cases such as learning and development, sales enablement, customer support, marketing, or business operations.
The company has recently shipped several features and products as part of the new platform, including:
- Personal Avatars are custom AI avatars with a natural background and that speak over 30 languages. They can be created in minutes with a phone or laptop camera
- AI Screen Recorder is a Chrome extension that records a computer’s screen and creates professional videos in minutes, which can then be edited further in Synthesia
- AI Video Assistant converts documents or web pages into videos with powerful configuration options and feature-rich templates
- Multilingual Video Player is a responsive video player that supports playback for multiple translations of a single video, with chapters, captions, and intuitive player controls
- A video localisation solution which includes 1-click translation for videos created in Synthesia, with easy-to-use versioning control, as well as AI-enhanced dubbing that translates content from any source with perfect lip-sync and natural-sounding voices
- Live Collaboration allows multiple people to work together on a video at the same time in real time.
A Focus on Security and Compliance
With a growing portfolio of clients, the company prioritises compliance, trust, and security. Its platform meets rigorous enterprise standards, ensuring the safe and responsible use of AI technology.
In September 2024, Synthesia became the world’s first AI video company to be certified by A-LIGN as ISO 42001 compliant, setting a new benchmark for security compliance in the generative AI industry.
It is also the only company in its class to conduct a comprehensive and public red team test of its AI video platform. The test took place in October 2024 and was organised by Humane Intelligence, a tech non-profit led by Dr Rumman Chowdhury, in collaboration with NIST, the US government agency responsible for innovation and industrial competitiveness.
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