Moonvalley secures USD $84M to expand licensed AI video tools

Toronto-founded Moonvalley, the AI research company that launched the world's first fully licensed generative AI video model, has announced an additional $84 million in seed funding.

Led by existing investor General Catalyst, the new round of funding includes investments from Creative Artists Agency (CAA), CoreWeave, and Comcast Ventures. Khosla Ventures and YCombinator, both of which contributed to previous rounds.

Marey, the video learning model released last week, is capable of precision controls, complex VFX sequences, and maintaining complete creative authority for filmmakers and studios. The model was trained on original 1080p content, enabling it to develop sharper videos up to five seconds in length at 24 frames per second.

Moonvalley specialises in artificial intelligence research and the development of foundational AI video tools and models exclusively trained on licensed content. 

"This funding proves you don't have to choose between powerful technology and responsible development. We're building world-class models while respecting the creative community, and these partners will help us give studios and creators a real alternative to unlicensed models," said Naeem Talukdar, Moonvalley's Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder.

Allison Goldberg, Managing Partner at Comcast Ventures, said they are excited to develop technologies for media industry innovation while respecting content creators.

As Marey is now publicly available, the additional funding will be used to expand Moonvalley's licensed content library, develop API access for developers, and enhance features for studio and enterprise partners. Additional recruitment is underway to expand engineering and support teams as Moonvalley scales the product.

In its efforts to specifically address the needs of filmmakers and studios, Moonvalley will work with its filmmaking division, Asteria. Led by filmmaker Bryn Mooser, Asteria focuses on developing tools that provide cinematic quality, creative control, and outputs ready for commercial use. 

The company's Chief Scientific Officer, Mateusz Malinowski, emphasised the technical challenges their team is addressing in the AI for video space.

"Our research team is solving the hardest problems in video AI, from understanding real-world physics and natural motion to giving filmmakers frame-level control. We're proving that licensed models can deliver the quality and precision that professional productions demand," said Malinowski.

CoreWeave said it will provide Moonvalley with access to advanced computing resources like GPU systems.

"CoreWeave is proud to support Moonvalley as demand accelerates for foundational AI video models and tools," said Brannin McBee, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer, CoreWeave. "Our infrastructure helps Moonvalley scale its commercially safe model to meet growing demand from studios and enterprises seeking powerful, legally compliant AI video solutions."

Today's announcement of additional seed financing brings the total funding to USD $154 million.

Image courtesy of Moonvalley. From left to right, Moonvalley founders: Mikolaj Binkowski, Bryn Mooser, Mateusz Malinowski, John Thomas & Naeem Talukdar.