Pika, an AI video-generation start-up based in San Francisco, has raised $80 million in venture capital funding, bringing its valuation to $470 million. The company, founded by Demi Guo and Chenlin Meng, both with PhDs in AI from Stanford University, has built its own “foundation model” for generating short videos based on text prompts.
The funding round, which includes investments from Spark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Greycroft, will allow Pika to continue training its AI and improving its video-editing tool. The company’s team of 13 includes former researchers from Google, Meta, and Uber, giving them the technical expertise to compete with larger organizations.
AI-generated images have become common on social media platforms, but video tools are considered the next frontier. Pika’s tool allows users to change aspects of the video, such as the aspect ratio and clothing of characters, making it a versatile and user-friendly option for content creators.
While bigger AI companies like OpenAI have access to billions of dollars and hundreds of staff, Pika is confident in its ability to compete by focusing on developing important and sought-after technology without the need for huge budgets. As the demand for AI video tools continues to grow, Pika is well-positioned to be a key player in the industry.
