Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z to address the silent issue with AI video

Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, AI makes it possible for anyone to make videos, but many of these tools don’t support audio. AI is being developed by Mirelo to provide soundtracks that correspond with the action in videos.

Mirelo SFX v1.5, an AI model that analyzes videos to add synced sound effects (SFX), was published earlier this year by the Berlin-based business.

VCs preparing for a generative AI revolution in gaming

VCs preparing for a generative AI revolution in gaming took notice of this. According to exclusive information obtained by TechCrunch, the two-year-old German business has raised a $41 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures.

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Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, Mirelo will be better able to compete in its new market thanks to this additional funding. Big businesses like Sony and Tencent released video-to-SFX models while it was still in stealth phase and resource-constrained. ElevenLabs, also supported by a16z, and Kling AI, a Chinese company owned by Kuaishou, performed the same.

Although Mirelo’s more focused approach already sets it apart from them, the business will need to hire more staff in order to outperform these models in the long run. According to Mirelo CEO and co-founder CJ Simon-Gabriel, the business anticipates that its ten-person team will “double if not triple” in number by the end of the next year.

Mirelo’s R&D, product, and go-to-market strategy will all benefit from these new recruits. According to Simon-Gabriel, the business released its models on Fal.ai and Replicate and anticipates that API usage will account for the majority of its short-term revenue. However, it is also making investments to expand Mirelo Studio, its creators’ workspace, which may someday enable full professional use.

The startup and its backers are anticipating the training data issues that have plagued other generative AI firms as Mirelo gets ready to grow. Georgia Stevenson, who oversaw Index’s investments, claims that Mirelo is entering into revenue-sharing agreements that uphold the rights of artists and built its models on acquired and public sound resources.

Although there is a conflict with generative AI technologies

Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, Although there is a conflict with generative AI technologies, sound designers and musicians are not being replaced by Mirelo, at least not yet. The firm primarily targets amateurs and prosumers looking to unmute AI-generated movies with a freemium model that includes a suggested plan for creators priced at €20/month (about $23.50).

Without audio, producers cannot fully realize this new potential, according to Simon-Gabriel.

Read More: To challenge Spotify’s Backstage, Port raises 100 million with a valuation of $800 million.

Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, According to George Lucas, sound makes up half of the cinematic experience. It’s not exaggerated,” he remarked. It’s an understatement, if anything. Depending on the sound and music you choose, you can snap exactly the same pictures and the sound will create an entirely different atmosphere.

AI music creation is on the startup’s agenda, and he and his co-founder Florian Wenzel are both artists and AI researchers. However, Simon-Gabriel noted that Mirelo is witnessing a greater demand for sound effects, partly due to the fact that there is less research being done than in other AI domains.

He said, “It’s easier to build a real moat here and then to capitalize on it.”

Mirelo might benefit from this. Simon-Gabriel stated that it had increased “very significantly” in comparison to its previously unknown pre-seed round, but it declined to reveal its new valuation. The Berlin-based company Atlantic, which spearheaded that previous round, also took part in the latest fundraising, bringing Mirelo’s total raised to $44 million and assisting in closing its resource shortfall.

Angel investors, such as Arthur Mensch

Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, Angel investors, such as Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral, Thomas Wolf, chief science officer of Hugging Face, Burkay Gur, co-founder of Fal.ai, and others, support the firm and add legitimacy to its technology, which may lead to new opportunities.

However, the researchers is conscious that videos produced by AI might not remain silent for very long.

Read More: To challenge Spotify’s Backstage, Port raises 100 million with a valuation of $800 million.

Mirelo raises 41 million from Index and a16z, For example, soundtracks generated by DeepMind’s Veo 3.1 video-to-audio model are now included in Gemini’s video generator. If anything, though, Simon-Gabriel seems justified. “Now, all of a sudden, people think, ‘Oh, maybe we should add sound.'” Of course, though, you ought to include some. It’s similar to talkies versus silent films, isn’t it? It really does make a big impact!. Read more

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