Exclusive: Runway launches $10M fund, Builders program to support early stage AI startups

Runway is moving beyond gathering AI video models and into shaping what gets built connected apical of them. 

The AI video procreation startup has launched a $10 cardinal task money to put successful early-stage companies gathering crossed AI, media, and satellite simulation, the company’s founders told TechCrunch. It’s besides rolling retired a Builders programme offering effect to bid C startups escaped API credits, a determination that suggests Runway wants to make an ecosystem astir what it calls “video intelligence.”

Runway has go 1 of the starring players successful AI video generation, with its tools utilized crossed film, advertising, and marketing. But with the launch of its “general satellite models” past December, the institution is present pushing beyond originative tooling into broader applications. And it’s looking to pat startups arsenic a mode to research usage cases it can’t prosecute alone. 

“We deliberation that done video, we’re going to get to video intelligence, and it’s going to unfastened a wider acceptable of usage cases successful antithetic industries that we can’t treble down connected today, but that possibly we tin enactment with our research,” Alejandro Matamala Ortiz, Runway’s co-founder and main plan officer, told TechCrunch.

Runway’s thesis for the money is divided into 3 buckets:

1. Technical teams that are pushing the frontier of AI and gathering caller kinds of architecture.
2. Builders creating the exertion furniture connected apical of instauration models and bringing AI to caller usage cases.
3. Companies experimenting with caller forms of media creation, storytelling, and distribution. 

For the past twelvemonth and a half, Runway has softly backed a fistful of early-stage founders and companies, Ortiz said. Those see LanceDB, which builds databases for AI applications, and Tamarind Bio, which uses AI to plan caller proteins for cause discovery. Some startups, similar real-time audio procreation steadfast Cartesia, are moving connected products that complement its own.

“The adjacent procreation of AI models volition beryllium built connected multimodal information – video, audio, images, substance together,” Chang She, co-founder and CEO of LanceDB, told TechCrunch successful a statement. “LanceDB is gathering the infrastructure furniture that makes that possible, and Runway is 1 of the fewer investors who understands wherefore that matters.”

Runway has raised adjacent to $860 cardinal to day from backers similar Nvidia and Qatar Investment Authority, and is valued astatine astir $5.3 cardinal post-money. It seeded the $10 cardinal money with existing investors and adjacent partners, with plans to constitute checks of up to $500,000 for pre-seed and seed-stage startups. 

Runway isn’t the lone AI startup that’s turning astir to put successful companies conscionable starting retired connected their journeys. OpenAI is the OG with its Startup Fund, and AI hunt startup Perplexity launched its ain $50 cardinal task fund past twelvemonth for seed-stage startups. CoreWeave besides launched CoreWeave Ventures successful September to backmost AI companies.

“Many companies similar ours are investing heavy connected the primitives that volition unlock a caller acceptable of applications oregon caller types of companies,” Ortiz said. “Companies similar ours that are inactive reasonably tiny with lone 150 radical can’t absorption connected everything. But we bash spot opportunities successful partnering precise aboriginal with caller teams that tin payment from what we’re doing.”

Building with Characters

A illustration Character made by Runway.Image Credits:Runway AI

That aforesaid doctrine is what is driving Runway’s caller programme for builders. Eligible early-stage startups tin commencement applying for the programme to get 500,000 API credits and entree to Characters, Runway’s precocious released real-time video cause API that’s powered by its caller household of wide satellite models. 

Characters lets users interact with generative AI agents successful existent time, giving them a look and a dependable that tin scope from cartoonish to photorealistic. The Builders programme is designed, successful part, to spot what startups physique with the technology. 

“Until [recently], we didn’t person the possibilities of talking to a real-time video agent, truthful we are truly trying to spot which teams spot the imaginable and affirmative impacts of this technology,” Ortiz said. 

The programme is already live, with a founding cohort that includes Cartesia, MSCHF, Oasys Health, Spara, Subject, and Supersonik. They’re utilizing Characters to powerfulness things similar AI lawsuit enactment agents, interactive marque characters, personalized onboarding experiences, real-time income assistants, and synthetic media tools. 

Ortiz said he’s excited astir the imaginable for telemedicine and education. And since amusement is Runway’s breadstuff and butter, Ortiz said helium expects Characters to beryllium utilized successful gaming and caller kinds of amusement experiences. 

“This is portion of our wide satellite models, which is what we’re pushing for next: a acceptable of models that are interactive, real-time, and immersive,” Ortiz said. “When you commencement combining each of these pieces, you tin ideate that you volition beryllium capable to make and simulate full environments, and enactment and person conversations with the characters successful these worlds.”

Other startups similar Inworld and Charisma are besides gathering interactive AI characters for games and storytelling, portion companies similar StoReel are experimenting with AI-generated shows users tin prosecute with directly. Some, similar Character AI, are already fashionable for their AI characters you tin speech to.

“We bash truly judge that there’s a caller benignant of net that’s going to beryllium much personalized, much immersive, and successful real-time,” Ortiz said.