Hedra’s AI Casts a $32M Spell on Video Creation

“We’re building the next generation of storytelling technology to empower content creators and enterprise marketers to tell narratives at scale on their own.” said Michael Lingelbach, Founder and CEO of Hedra

Hedra has raised $32 million in Series A funding to grow its AI-powered video creation platform, introducing AI-enabled storytelling features to enterprise marketers.

The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz‘s Infrastructure fund (a16z Infra), with ongoing backing from a16z speedrun, Abstract, and Index Ventures. The total amount of funding in the company now stands at $44 million after its previous reported round in 2024, making Hedra a leader in AI-video technology.

Started by Michael Lingelbach, Hedra is changing the way video content is produced through the accessibility of high-quality, character-centric content at scale. Traditional video production takes a long time and costs a lot of money, involving huge resources and huge price tags running into thousands of dollars for every minute of content. 

Browser-Based Platform

Hedra’s AI technology breaks these barriers by making content creation fast through lifelike digital characters, enabling brands to create engaging video storytelling cost-effectively.

The firm’s industry-disruptive technology, fueled by its own proprietary Character-3 foundation model, combines text, image, and audio in a seamless way to create natural character-driven performances. Through this technology, companies can create dynamic video content that responds to the increasing need for real-time, interactive storytelling.

Lingelbach’s vision for Hedra is rooted in his own background as a theatre performer and Stanford AI researcher. His experience in performance arts informed his conviction that characters are at the heart of storytelling, leading him to build a platform that could create realistic digital personalities in volume.

This inspired the development of Hedra Studio, a platform that is easy to use while enabling brands and creators to produce professional-quality videos in a matter of clicks. From virtual spokespersons, animated mascots, and stylized digital personas, Hedra technology provides unprecedented versatility in conforming to different styles, formats, and art directions.

Targeting Enterprise Marketers

Since launching in 2024, Hedra has rapidly gained traction, attracting over 2.5 million users, including independent creators and corporate teams looking to streamline their video production processes. With digital marketing becoming increasingly competitive, brands must produce content quickly and efficiently to engage audiences in real-time. Hedra’s AI solution allows brands to react in real-time to cultural moments, run seasonal campaigns, and create visually engaging stories without the legacy limitations of video production. Its technology offers users the capacity to scale video production without sacrificing emotional depth and authenticity, making content both impactful and relevant.

Andreessen Horowitz Partner Matt Bornstein views Hedra’s technology as the foundation for the next generation of digital media. He defines the Character-3 model as the most sophisticated architecture for AI-powered actors, enabling new creative capabilities across enterprise marketing, entertainment, and the wider creator economy. In contrast to rivals looking at avatars alone or narrow use cases, Hedra brings together story, sound, and video generation into a unified workflow. Users are able to personalize digital characters with distinct voices, personality, and looks, producing engaging and immersive content without sacrificing on quality or uniqueness.

Overcoming the Uncanny Valley

Hedra is significantly investing in AI-powered storytelling development, with the aim to have its models deliver high-quality, controllable character performances. Hedra has grown to a staff of 20, whose number is expected to triple by the end of the year, as it commits to developing the future of AI-generate video content. With continued improvement in AI storytelling, Hedra is keen to perfect its technology for greater creative expression, closing the gap between artificial intelligence and human storytelling.

By bringing robust AI models into powerful tools, Hedra is democratizing video making and opening the doors to inclusive and emotionally impactful storytelling. As the lines between human and AI-created content begin to fade, Hedra continues to be committed to maintaining the integrity of storytelling so that digital stories continue to be engaging, vibrant, and intensely tied to human emotion. The mission of the company is to reframe the way video is made and watched in an AI-driven world, enabling new creative possibilities for storytellers worldwide.