Melius Founders
NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2026 | Melius, a New York startup founded by three former Ramp engineers, raised a $20 million Series A led by CRV on Oct. 6, bringing its total funding to $25 million, according to TechCrunch. Some headlines, including PYMNTS, give the figure as a single $25 million raise, but the total includes a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The company builds AI agents that create images, videos and ad campaigns from plain-language instructions.
How Melius's Funding Breaks Down
Per the TechCrunch report, as carried by Yahoo Finance, the Series A is $20 million, led by CRV, and the earlier seed round was $5 million, led by General Catalyst. PYMNTS describes the round as a combined seed and Series A of $25 million. The reporting reviewed does not disclose a valuation.
What Melius Builds
The founders are Joowon Kim, Young Kim and Arnav Ramu, all former engineers at Ramp. Melius calls itself an "agents lab for creative work." Users describe an outcome, such as adding more natural lighting to an image, and AI agents handle the technical steps. The platform is aimed at marketers, agencies and creative professionals, and also at non-experts. Joowon Kim said: "We deserve better" than tools that demand a steep learning curve.
The Pivot From Ad Spend to Creative Tools
The team first built an AI tool for performance marketing and ad spend management. After about six months they decided the idea lacked potential and rewrote the product. Kim told TechCrunch: "We scrapped the entire codebase; we burned all of it." One outlet reports the reset took nearly another year before the company came out of stealth.
Early Traction and Competition
Melius says it passed $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of leaving stealth in July 2026. That is a company-reported figure, and the company has not named customers in the reporting reviewed.
TechCrunch names Higgsfield, Krea and Flora AI as competitors. It reports that Higgsfield is valued at $5.4 billion with more than $700 million in annualized revenue. Kim acknowledged the crowded field, saying: "There are a lot of players, which is pretty exciting."
What This Means for Marketing Teams
AI creative tools are drawing large funding rounds while the market is still sorting out which products stick. For a marketing team, the practical questions are cost per finished asset, how much human editing the output still needs, and who owns what the agents generate. Melius's own pivot is a reminder that the first version of an AI product often changes quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Melius raise?
Melius raised a $20 million Series A led by CRV, bringing total funding to $25 million, according to TechCrunch. The earlier $5 million seed round was led by General Catalyst. Some headlines present $25 million as one round.
What does Melius do?
Melius builds AI agents that create images, videos and ad campaigns from plain-language instructions. It describes itself as an "agents lab for creative work" aimed at marketers, agencies and creative professionals.
Who founded Melius?
Melius was founded by Joowon Kim, Young Kim and Arnav Ramu, all former Ramp engineers. They scrapped their first product, an AI performance marketing tool, after about six months.