The practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have largely been in data-analysis, where it has proven its value in uncovering and highlighting patterns in large datasets. While its domain continues to grow, its potential is increasingly evident in both creative and analytical fields. Now, there are plenty of European startups working to bring the power of generative AI to different sectors and a lot of them are getting funded.
The latest one is – London-based Colossyan, a text-to-video transition tool, has announced today that it has closed a $5M Series A round to finance its primary product, Colossyan Creator, the top-rated text-to-video solution for learning & development professionals.
The funding round was led by Central & Eastern Europe VC investors LAUNCHub Ventures and backed by London-based L&D specialists Emerge Education. Existing investors Day One Capital, Oktogon Ventures, and APX also participated.
GenAI for text-to-video
With Colossyan’s Generative AI, video production and localisation are reduced from 2-3 weeks to under 30 minutes, saving educators and corporations thousands of dollars per video. Already the startup serves 400 customers across 46 countries, including P&G and BMW.
Launched in May 2022, Colossyan Creator quickly emerged as a significant player in the L&D text-to-video market. Consequently, recurring revenue increased month-to-month by over 30%, resulting in substantial growth. With the latest funding, the company aims to grow its team from 21 to 40 by the end of the year.
The surge in demand for training videos during COVID-19 presents significant resource and budgetary challenges for Colossyan. By deploying video in onboarding, sales enablement, compliance, and other use cases, they reduce time and costs. In addition to improving training efficiency and effectiveness, this innovation helps L&D professionals manage costs.
“The level of interest and variety of use cases our customers have found for Colossyan has been incredible. In addition, we’ve received great feedback on additional features they would like to see developed – we’ll be able to do just that with our new investment.” – Dominik Kovacs, CEO of Colossyan.
Originally called “Defudger,” Colossyan was developed in 2018 by Dominik Mate Kovacs to detect AI-generated content. During the development process, the team realised that their technology could directly enhance the quality of AI-generated content. Early prototypes received such positive feedback that the company switched to content creation full-time.
“In the future, every learning designer will use a text-to-video solution to help build and localize the content they produce. Colossyan is the clear technological leader now and one of the fastest-growing players in this space. Our investment reflects our belief that the gap between them and their competitors is only set to grow.” said Jan Lynn-Matern, Founder and Partner at Emerge Education.
“Colossyan Creator has the potential to redefine how professionals work more efficiently through Generative AI,” remarked Stanislav Sirakov, General Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures, who led the round. He further noted that the company’s impressive growth, notable clients, and the team’s competency have contributed to a strong conviction in the company’s success.
Further, the funds will be used for growing its engineering and AI research teams. Also, Colossyan plans to expand its commercial functions in London and New York, with key hires in sales, marketing, and customer success.
