Captions Announces $60 Million Series C, Reaches $500 Million Valuation

Captions, the popular AI-powered video creation platform, has just closed a $60 million Series C funding round, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $100 million and its valuation to a whopping $500 million. This funding milestone represents a significant leap for the New York-based startup that has been making waves in the video content creation landscape.

The funding round, led by Index Ventures, saw participation from both well-known heavyweights and notable new investors. Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital doubled down on their previous investments, while Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures and even Hollywood star Jared Leto entered the capitalization table for the first time.

“We are excited to announce our plan to invest $100 million to advance generative video research from New York City,” said Gaurav Misra, co-founder and CEO of Captions. Misra’s statement underscores the company’s commitment to positioning New York as an emerging AI hub and challenging Silicon Valley’s traditional dominance in the technology sector.

Captions has become particularly popular in the creator economy because it offers a suite of AI-powered tools that democratize video production. The recent launch of AI Creator, a groundbreaking 3D avatar system for content creation, is one example of the company’s innovative approach. This feature, along with others like AI Edit and Lipdub, have led to Captions being downloaded over 10 million times on mobile and having 3 million monthly active users.

Damir Becirovic, Partner at Index Ventures, highlighted the transformative potential of Captions’ technology: “The company enables anyone to bring their stories to life in ways previously unimaginable and truly share them with the world.”

As short-form videos continue their meteoric rise on social media platforms, the demand for accessible, high-quality video creation tools has never been higher. Brandon Greer, head of HubSpot Ventures, noted, “Captions is uniquely positioned to transform the way marketers create videos and engage with customers.”

Looking ahead, Captions plans to invest up to $100 million to expand its machine learning team and double its internal research efforts. This strategic focus on R&D shows that the company is committed to maintaining its technological edge in the highly competitive AI landscape.