Two Small Fish Ventures’ Post

🔔 Haiper Raises $13.8M Seed Funding🔔 'allowing anyone to generate high-quality video content from text' The UK-based video-generative AI platform building a foundation model for visual content, is coming out of stealth mode with $13.8M in seed funding. The round was led by Octopus Ventures taking Haiper’s total funding to $19.2M ahead of its Series A round in 2024. 💡 Founded in 2021 by Yishu Miao (CEO) and Dr Ziyu Wang (Tik Tok, Deep Mind and Google alumni), Haiper offers a text-to-video tool that allows users to input written prompts. Users have full creative licence over the direction of the content, and can continually amend characters, objects, backgrounds, artistic styles, and more to have granular control over the final visual product. 🎥 The Startup will develop and release a series of large trained models that will enable creativity and imagination. They have partnered with several top academic labs including University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. 💸 Competition is heating up in the Video-Generated AI space with the likes of Open AI's 'Sora' and Google/Nvidia backed Runway being key players in the market. Rebecca Hunt, a partner at Octopus Ventures commented : “There are realistically only a handful of people positioned to achieve this; this is one of the reasons we wanted to back the Haiper team. Once the models get to a point that transcends the uncanny valley and reflects the real world and all its physics there will be a period where the applications are infinite,” #venturecapital #vc #funding #ai #vr #seed #startups #investment #vensight

Lore Machine, an artificial intelligence start-up that allows writers to convert stories into images, audio and animation, said it was in talks to raise funds and started rolling out its visual-storytelling platform to the public on Tuesday. The company plans to charge between $10 and $160 per month for its platform that allows users to customize locations, characters and scenes, with the highest-priced tier aimed at enterprises. Lore Machine is also in talks with venture capital firms for a fundraise, following a pre-seed funding round in January 2023 that included Dao Jones, 100 Acre Ventures and NZVC and financial details of which were not disclosed. "We are considering it (fundraising) ... having conversations with the VC community ... we are profitable and have significant revenues in Q4 and Q1 of this year from our partnerships," Lore Machine founder and CEO Thobey Campion told Reuters. Lore Machine said it sees a large opportunity in the marketing industry and the company created an ad for HP's gaming computers that was aired in China. The start-up is in talks for partnerships with 20 software platforms and content partners and is working on a version of the platform that would allow enterprises to train the model with their in-house styles. https://lnkd.in/g2SjnXfJ

AI is changing the face of industries as we know them, from art and law to medicine, animation, and film. As a specialist in creating AI startup websites, I focus on using the best user experience to convert curious visitors into long-term subscribers. With so many AI tools available, I'll be sharing some of the best for your specific niche. Stay tuned for more updates! #ai #webdesign #website #startup #startups #startuplife

Top 5 funding rounds of the week: 📌 1. Avarra - a startup simulating realistic customer interactions using 3D avatars and large language models for sales training. Founded by: David Knight Raised: $8 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners 📌 2. Clout Kitchen - a startup developing AI-powered tools for gaming content creators, including real-time in-game assistance. Founded by: Justin Gorriceta-Banusing Raised: $4.5 million in seed funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Peak XV 📌 3. Voyage AI - startup focused on reducing hallucinations in generative AI by enhancing data retrieval and usage. Founded By: Tengyu Ma Raised: $20 million in Series A funding led by CRV 📌 4. Valdera - AI-driven platform for helping manufacturers source chemicals and raw materials. Founded By: Sruti A. and Dheev Arulmani Raised: $15 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures 📌 5. Third Dimension AI - a startup founded this year that uses generative AI to create detailed, immersive 3D environments. Founded By: Tolga Kart Raised: $6.9 million seed round led by Felicis Congrats to all on the fresh funding! 👏

Fable's Product Hunt launch has been going strong so far! Last few hours left! Any support from you will help us consolidate before the day ends. With Fable: just give a simple prompt, and it turns your idea into an interactive demo in minutes. We’d love for you to check us out! Your support means everything to us, and we’re here all day to chat and answer any questions. 🙌 🔗 Head over to our launch page: Link in the comments below! #ProductHunt #LaunchDay #AI #Startup #InteractiveDemos

We're launching Startups across industries and helping companies adopt AI. Not sure what a Venture studio is? https://lnkd.in/gQdwPQVN In celebration of my son's 5th birthday I asked co-pilot to explain to me what a VS was like I am 5yrs old. "Sure! Imagine a venture studio as a magic workshop where grown-ups come up with cool ideas for new toys. They don’t just think of the toys; they also build them, test them, and find friends to help play with and improve them. It’s like having a team of super-smart inventors who make sure the toys are fun and work well before sharing them with everyone else." 😊 Does this sound like fun? Are you a building with copilot studio already? Shoot me a message and come join the team 🤗

A look inside our oversubscribed Build Club co-working this Sunday. This week we had five startups demo including: 1. Michal Wanto, season 0 alumni demoing his latest version of Totem AI, an AI x web3 habit tracking app. The app used AI image recognition. He is currently building the MVP and also looking for a cofounder 👀 2. Jack Wakem, demoing Tempest AI, which enables you to create games in < 10mins with AI. He demoed the latest infrastructure update using agents and knowledge graphs to create sophisticated gaming storylines (AI game native game engine). 3. Aarush Issar, demoing the MVP of an AI agent passion project betting on the thesis of action LLM models. 🎯 The aim is to have fleets of agents who collaborate autonomously fulfilling jobs to be done. It currently leverages crewAI. … and many more! Do you find any of the above applications interesting? Check out a look inside our demos below! If you are building in AI come join us, it’s 100% free 🙏. #startups #ai Stone & Chalk

With recent troubles at big startups like Stability AI and MidJourney, some wonder if the presence of major tech companies in AI is helpful or harmful for startups. While some startups worry about their market share, others, like Bria, see it as an opportunity. Bria’s CEO, Yair Adato, believes increased awareness from big tech can benefit startups by highlighting AI media generation's potential. In the past year, investment in AI-driven media startups has surged, with several high-profile deals showcasing the potential of these technologies. Bria, which focuses on commercial and advertising use cases, recently raised $24 million in Series A funding, demonstrating strong investor interest despite the challenges. Curious to hear what startup founders in the AI space think... Do you think the presence of major tech companies in AI is good or bad for startups? Read the full article from Pitchbook for more insights: https://bit.ly/3zvRMtK #StartupFundraising #VentureCapital #FundraisingInsights

#FoundersX@TECH WEEK by a16z The GenAI for Entertainment panel was a lot of fun to host with Joshua Liss, co-founder & CEO of DreamFlare AI, and Kumar A., co-founder of Merse, sharing what they are building to leap Hollywood and our entertainment industry into the GenAI era. Josh and DreamFlare AI team are building the next-gen Pixar platform with interactive short films in Hollywood quality and much lower cost, tapping into top creative talents around the globe powered by GenAI. Kumar and Merse team are turning audio books and contents into comic books, which will inject a lot of joy in GenAI gamified learning and sharing for our young people. Both startups are super early, but I have no doubt that they will make our world much happier! 😋 FoundersX Ventures DreamFlare AI Merse Rob B. Mark Rachapoom Tom Kosnik Leo (Naiwen) Cui, Ph.D. Yvonne Jiang Sizi Chen Andi White, PhD Stanford University Graduate School of Business Stanford Directors' College Harvard Business School University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business Y Combinator #AI #GenAI #AIAgent #startup #gaming #venturecapital #entertainment #Hollywood #DreamflareAI #merse

This venture studio has been in AI since 2016, raising €10M in the holding company and later a €30M fund. Built 9 companies, had 2 exits. They invest €1M per startup and take 25% of equity; the remaining 75% is for two co-founders: CTO & CEO. Insights from Rasmus Rothe, a founder & CTO @ Merantix Venture Studio based in Berlin: – Earlier, the studio targeted 30% shares, but it created difficulties with future fundraising. – They built an AI Campus - a co-working space for 100+ companies and 1000+ people, hosting 70+ events a year in AI. They also have a service company for internal & external customers. – Revenue streams besides exits (they reinvest profits for growth): management fee & carry from the fund, AI campus rental, and revenue from services. – Founders are always a couple: one with a technical (AI) or industrial background + one business-focused. At the incubation stage, they get a salary to cover base live costs, depending on needs. – 3-6 months incubation program: 1000+ applications for the interviews (most drop out) → 30 people join for two days on-site to know each other & work on a case → 10 people make 4 weeks for 4 different cases to validate their high-level → deep dive phase with 2 founders for each new company → 1M euros pre-seed investment. – What they look for in founders: 1) natural leader who can run teams, attract talents, sell, and fundraise – usually second-time founders, but sometimes strong first-time ones, 2) have some edge/expertise in the industry where they want to build an AI company, 3) crazy drive, irrational, super hungry, super pushy, can do sth impossible and passionate to make a difference in the world. – They started before the AI boom and now have a lot of attention from investors, LPs, customers, corporates, & policymakers. – The sidecar fund model is more scalable and cleaner in the long term – fewer questions from investors and founders. But it’s easier to start with an equity raise into the holding company and raise a fund at the second step. – Equity split in startups: 10% – Holdco, 15% – fund, 37.5% – CEO, 37.5% – CTO. – For a studio, it’s important not to be overly involved (usually in problem) companies and to focus more on those (typically good) companies that need the least of your help. – If you want to start a studio, think about where you have an edge, geography, industry, and domain expertise. + Bonus from Rasmus Rothe: the list of 6 value adds of the venture studio which help to attract serial entrepreneurs. Like & comment “+” to get it. Watch the full episode: https://lnkd.in/dNtPCzip Adrian Locher, Laurenz Lankes, Raphael Stücheli, Ernst Ludes, PhD - CVCapital, Hendrik Remigereau, Nicole Büttner, Jonas Muff, Sif Björnsdóttir, Raphael Stücheli, Niklas Thum, Moritz Schröder, Eduard Hübner, Dr. Shirley Blenkinsop, Tomas van der Heijden, Alessandro Bonetto, Janette Wiget, Arantxa Gomez