Hedra Gen-AI Video Launches With $10 Million In Seed Funding
Hedra, a new generative AI video creation tool, has officially launched, backed by a $10M seed funding round led by Index Ventures, Abstract, and A16Z Speedrun. This is a relatively small investment for a company in the emerging video generation field, which is crowded with well-funded competitors like Runway ($237M raised), Pica ($80M), Luma ($70M), HeyGen ($60M), Haiper ($19.2M) and coming soon Sora (from OpenAI), and possibly Veo from Google. An entrant from China, Kling, just opened to international users.
Hedra’s flagship offering, Character-1, is a video foundation model that users say stands out for its speed and control. It enables creators to produce longer-form videos with a focus on character-centric narratives. The founders says the tool addresses a critical need in the market by balancing speed and control, which previous generative video models struggled to achieve. “We’re focusing on integrated workflow tools around communication, automating the production of a Youtube video or e-learning video, rather than focusing on text to video models,” said Co-founder and CEO, Michael Lingelbach.
“We’ve seen validation from the market, Character-1 fulfills an unmet need for audio-conditioned generation at the intersection of fast, expressive, controllable, long-form video.” Lingelbach continued. “As a company, we go beyond the model layer–we’re building a creation studio that accelerates the production of social media, marketing, and e-learning videos to make content creation faster and more accessible.”
“Character-1 offers creators a new level of expressive control and efficiency,” said co-founder and CTO Alex Bergman, “which we believe will transform the way narratives are told.” Hedra is designed for content creators, enterprise marketers, and businesses seeking to leverage AI-driven video creation workflows. Since its initial release, over 350,000 users have generated more than 1.6 million videos using the platform, highlighting its broad appeal and versatility.
“Our goal with Hedra is to break down the barriers that have traditionally limited content creators.” Said Lingelbach. “With Character-1, we provide a tool that combines speed and control, allowing creators to produce high-quality videos without the usual trade-offs. This is particularly important for independent creators and small businesses who need to maximize their resources while still delivering compelling content.”
One of Hedra’s key features is its ability to integrate multiple aspects of content creation into a single, seamless workflow. This unified workflow tool allows users to create customizable digital avatars with unique appearances, voices, and personalities. Hedra’s technology leverages advanced AI techniques to provide a high level of expressive control, making it a versatile solution for various content creation needs.
“Hedra is fantastic, offering incredibly short generation times — within a minute roughly! It provides much more lifelike motion compared to competitors like Runway and Dream Machine, where movement control is more limited,” said AI filmmaker Ellenor Argyropoulos, Director and AI instructor at Mermaid Toast.
The $10M seed funding round saw participation from prominent investors, including Jon Barron, David Benhaim, Kevin Hartz, Greg Mark, Robyn Peterson, Nikhila Ravi, John Rogovin, Outset Capital, and AI influencer, SFX expert, former Googler, and Cinematic AI pioneer, Bilawal Sidhu, who carries a lot of weight around here. Their support underscores the confidence in Hedra’s team and the potential impact of their technology in this crowded, fast-moving, competitive market.
