A generative AI content production platform that has created more than 700 million images, and trained more than 470,000 custom generative AI models, since launching a year ago has raised $47 million,
The next level version of OpenAi’s DALL-E, Leonardo.Ai was backed by Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital and Samsung Next.
It launched in December 2022, offering people with a new way to ideate, conceptualise and create anything from gaming characters to entire gaming worlds, advertising media, fashion lines, architectural designs and more, and already is producing 4.5 million images a day. Leonardo.Ai is now Discord’s third most popular channel, with nearly 2 million members.
Leonardo.Ai CEO and co-founder JJ Fiasson said the platform lets users build entire ecosystems of hyper-realistic art so creators can save, edit and build multiple assets in the same style and feature set, and the concepts can be used again and again, not just one-off images.
“Our mission is to empower creativity — whether you’re a novice who loves art or a professional who creates every day. Leonardo.Ai helps fuel both,” he said.
“We’re helping democratise creativity by lowering the barrier to entry, and we’re also accelerating creative productivity for professionals.
Leonardo.Ai cofounders Jachin Bhasme, JJ Fiasson and Chris Gillis
Fiasson gave the example of someone in video production being able to use Leonardo.Ai to help storyboard a scene or an entire short film. The platform is already being used in industries such as entertainment, gaming, fashion design, advertising and architecture,
“If you’re a game designer, you can mock up gaming characters in seconds; brands use it to brief ad agencies. Its uses are endless, and ultimately we’re reducing the friction between ideation and creation – something we feel is really powerful,” he said
“From our initial uptake, it’s clear that creators see the power of our platform to support the creative process. This new funding round will help us continue to build out our tech and team to empower creativity for millions around the world.”
The generative AI company recently launched a new creation tool, Realtime Canvas. It allows for user input onto a painting canvas that is transformed by AI in real-time into polished illustrations, designs, photography and more.
An Enterprise offering, introducing collaborative tools for teams and private cloud infrastructure, is also on the books, giving users have access to their production APIs to build AI models that cater to specific needs, such as the brand and style guidelines of an advertising agency’s client.
Like Canva, Leonardo.Ai is also looking to address copyright concerns sparked by the creative cannibalisation AI has caused by training on the work of others by offering indemnity to commercial clients.
The company has also added Donna Thomas (ex. AWS, Antler), as Chief of Staff and Ellie Miller (ex.Depop, Oodle) as Chief People Officer to the team
Blackbird partner Niki Scevak said he was impressed by the speed in which the product has been expanded to serve a wide variety of industries in the 10 months since they first met.
“Compounded over a decade, and Leonardo.Ai will have the ability to transform how industries go about their working lives,” he said.
Side Stage Ventures cofounder Ben Grabiner said Leonardo.Ai is building a whole new type of AI-powered paintbrush.
In just a short time, they have built an exceptional product and an enormous community of engaged users who are streamlining their workflows and discovering new use cases for it every day,” he sid.
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