Los Angeles-based startup Moonvalley, which is developing AI tools for video creation, has raised a fresh $43 million in venture capital, according to an SEC filing.
The filing, which lists 11 unnamed investors, comes roughly a week after Moonvalley launched its first AI video-generating model, Marey. Moonvalley previously raised $70 million in seed funding from backers including General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, and Bessemer Ventures.
A spokesperson for Moonvalley told TechCrunch that the filing “does not dictate the total funding number” and that “the actual number will be formalized and announced in the coming weeks.”
The wide availability of tools to build video generators has led to a Cambrian explosion of vendors in the space. In fact, it risks becoming oversaturated. Startups such as Runway and Luma, as well as tech giants like OpenAI and Google, are releasing models at a fast clip — in many cases with little to distinguish them from each other.
Moonvalley’s Marey model, which was built in collaboration with Asteria, a newer AI animation studio, offers customization options including fine-grained camera and motion controls, and can generate “HD” clips up to 30 seconds in length. It’s also lower risk than some other video generation models from a legal perspective, claims Moonvalley.
Many generative video startups train models on public data, some of which is invariably copyrighted. These companies argue that fair-use doctrine shields the practice. But that hasn’t stopped rights owners from lodging complaints and filing cease and desists.
Moonvalley says it’s working with partners to handle licensing arrangements and package videos into datasets that the company then purchases. The approach is similar to Adobe’s, which also procures video footage for training from creators through its Adobe Stock platform.
Many artists and creators are wary of video generators, and understandably so — they threaten to upend the film and television industry. A 2024 study commissioned by the Animation Guild, a union representing Hollywood animators and cartoonists, estimates that more than 100,000 U.S.-based film, television, and animation jobs will be disrupted by AI by 2026.
Moonvalley intends to let creators request their content be removed from its models, allow customers to delete their data at any time, and offer an indemnity policy to protect users from copyright challenges.
Unlike some “unfiltered” video models that readily insert a person’s likeness into clips, Moonvalley is also committing to building guardrails around its creative tooling. Like OpenAI’s Sora, Moonvalley’s models will block certain content, like NSFW phrases, and won’t allow people to prompt them to generate videos of specific people or celebrities.
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