Inworld AI, a California-based developer platform for creating AI-driven virtual characters, has raised an additional $50M in a Series A round led by Section 32 and Intel Capital.
Other investors include Founders Fund, Accelerator Investments LLC, First Spark Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, BITKRAFT Ventures, CRV, Microsoft’s M12 fund, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, SK Telecom Venture Capital, NTT Docomo Ventures, and The Venture Reality Fund, also participated.
Since its inception in July 2021, the company raised approximately $70M, including the $50M in Series A, following pre-seed and seed rounds totaling nearly $20M.
The company will use the funds to empower developers to create interactive AI-driven characters for virtual worlds.
Create AI-driven virtual characters
Founded by conversational AI pioneers Ilya Gelfenbeyn, Michael Ermolenko, and Kylan Gibbs, Inworld AI is a developer platform for creating AI-driven virtual characters for gaming, the metaverse, VR/AR, and immersive experiences.
The company uses advanced AI to build generative characters whose personalities, thoughts, memories, and behaviors are designed to mimic the deeply social nature of human interaction.
The Inworld platform features a no-code studio that makes the creation of AI characters accessible to writers, designers, and creators.
Integrations with the most popular game engines, like Unreal and Unity, make it easy for developers to deploy characters into game environments.
Disney accelerator
Inworld was one of six companies selected for the 2022 Disney Accelerator. This year’s Disney Accelerator class is focused on building the future of immersive experiences and specializes in technologies such as augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI) characters. Inworld has broad applications outside gaming and metaverse and can also be used for entertainment, sales & marketing, and training & education.
Inworld is funded by investors including Section 32, Intel Capital, Founders Fund, Accelerator Investments LLC, BITKRAFT Ventures, First Spark Ventures, The Venture Reality Fund, Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Meta, Microsoft’s M12 fund, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, and SK Telecom Venture Capital.
“Inworld’s AI platform removes the complexities of developing intelligent virtual characters with the potential to unlock a variety of new online experiences,” said Andy Harrison, Managing Partner at Section 32. “Applications for Inworld’s platform transcend what’s possible in gaming and the metaverse alone and enable enterprises to deliver rich, on-brand experiences with AI-powered virtual characters capable of delivering memorable user experiences.”
“The demand for immersive content and experiences is rising, ushering in a thriving creator economy and unlocking opportunities for individual developers,” said Srini Ananth, Managing Director at Intel Capital. “Inworld has quickly become a trusted resource for developers, who are flocking to the platform to create AI-powered virtual characters with human-like speech, facial gestures, and body language for immersive realities including the metaverse, VR/AR, games, and virtual worlds.”
