Viggle AI raises $19M in funding for its AI video generator

Viggle AI, a startup with a well-liked video generation service of the identical name, today announced that it has closed a $19 million early-stage investment.

The Series A round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Two Small Fish. Toronto-based Viggle AI will invest the capital in product development and growth initiatives.

Viggle AI, officially WarpEngine Canada Inc., was founded in 2022 by Chief Executive Officer Hang Chu. He was previously a principal research scientist at Autodesk Inc.’s machine learning lab and earlier worked at Nvidia Corp. Viggle AI provides a generative artificial intelligence service that enables users to create short clips with natural language prompts.

To make use of the service, consumers must upload a picture and a text snippet that details how the image must be animated. Alternatively, they’ll swap the text snippet for a video that shows the motion they want to depict within the animation. Viggle AI uses a custom foundation model called JST-1 to mechanically turn the uploaded assets right into a short video.

There are several other services in the marketplace that provide similar capabilities. In accordance with Viggle AI, what sets JST-1 apart is that the model has a “real understanding of physics.” The corporate says that this feature allows the AI to generate more realistic character movements than competing neural networks.

Viggle AI has built up an installed base of greater than 4 million users since making its service publicly available. Creative professionals depend on the software to create proof-of-concept animations through the prototyping phase of their projects. Hobbyists, in turn, can use it to generate clips that may otherwise require a big time investment to create. 

The corporate monetizes the service through a paid Pro tier that gives higher usage limits for $9.99 monthly. To grow its market presence, it’s going to use its latest funding to roll out a creator program that can give participants a Pro subscription and video creation credits. The corporate can be promising early access to latest features. 

Viggle AI’s other priorities are to grow its headcount and enhance the AI that powers its video generation service. In accordance with TechCrunch, the corporate is planning upgrades that can facilitate the creation of more sophisticated clips.

It’s competing in a crowded market. OpenAI and Runway AI Inc., which is reportedly within the means of raising a brand new $450 million round, also offer video generation models. Smaller contenders corresponding to Hotshot, which debuted its newest video generation model last week, are also contributing to market competition.

Animating images will not be the one use case that video generation models support. In July, Stability AI Ltd. introduced Stable Video 4D, a neural network that may take a brief clip as input and mechanically change the camera angle. It’s able to recreating a video from eight latest perspectives in about 40 seconds.

AI video generators are also starting to search out use beyond creative workflows. Covariant Inc., a venture-backed industrial automation company, detailed a video generation model called RFM-1 in March. The model helps the corporate’s robotic arms plan one of the best ways of carrying out tasks corresponding to moving a box from one conveyor belt to a different. 

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