Synthesia Founders
Synthesia raised $200 million in Series E funding at a $4 billion valuation, nearly doubling its $2.1 billion valuation from January 2025 as investor appetite intensifies for applied AI products with clear commercial use cases. Google Ventures led the round with participation from Nvidia's NVentures, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, PSP Growth, Air Street Capital, and newcomers Evantic Capital and Hedosophia.
The London-based company founded in 2017 by CEO Victor Riparbelli and COO Steffen Tjerrild specializes in AI-generated video avatars for corporate training, internal communications, and product explanations. Clients including Bosch, Merck, SAP, DuPont, Xerox, Heineken, and over 70 percent of Fortune 100 companies use the platform to produce multilingual content, reducing costs up to 90 percent compared to traditional video production methods.
Synthesia crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in April 2025, reached $150 million later that year, and projects surpassing $200 million in 2026 according to CFO Daniel Kim. The company quadrupled contracts worth more than $100,000 over the past twelve months, demonstrating enterprise momentum beyond initial pilots into production deployments at scale.
The fresh capital will accelerate development of interactive AI agents embedded in video avatars that can answer questions, simulate role-play scenarios, and provide tailored explanations during training sessions. This moves beyond passive one-way content consumption toward dynamic learning experiences where employees explore scenarios and receive personalized feedback in real time.
Simultaneously with the funding round, Synthesia facilitated an employee secondary sale in partnership with Nasdaq at the same $4 billion valuation. The transaction provides liquidity to long-time team members while enabling them to remain shareholders in future growth. Secondary sales typically occur informally at varying valuations, but Synthesia structured this transaction at the Series E price to maintain alignment and give the company control over the process.
Co-founder Steffen Tjerrild emphasized that the increased valuation reflected validation from existing investors who have observed progress and compounding metrics year over year, rather than external hype. The repeated participation of existing backers across multiple funding rounds signals confidence in business development and long-term viability.
Riparbelli framed the funding as scaling Synthesia's vision that AI will reduce content creation costs to near zero while providing more engaging communication and learning methods for organizations. He tied momentum to enterprises facing growing pressure to reskill and upskill workforces, creating timely demand for interactive and responsive training tools as AI capability converges with enterprise needs.
The $4 billion valuation positions Synthesia among a small group of European AI companies achieving scale beyond regional relevance, cementing London's position as a serious commercial AI hub. UK Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle described Synthesia's success as powerful evidence of Britain's global AI leadership, highlighting how British companies apply world-class technology to real business challenges at scale.
At $4 billion, Synthesia now stands as the UK's most valuable generative AI media company by valuation according to Dealroom data. Total funding exceeds $536 million including strategic investments from Adobe Ventures in 2025. The company previously rebuffed a $3 billion acquisition offer from Adobe and discussions with Meta, opting to maintain independence.
The deal arrives amid ongoing debate about AI spending potentially inflating market bubbles, but continued capital flow toward companies with defined revenue streams and enterprise adoption demonstrates investor conviction in applied AI categories. Synthesia's focus on secure, brand-consistent enterprise tools with ISO 42001 compliance contrasts with consumer-oriented video generators often criticized for quality issues.
Challenges remain as incumbents including Adobe's Firefly Video and Vimeo's AI features enter the market, but Synthesia's rejection of acquisition offers and focus on agentic capabilities position it to maintain differentiation.
