There is yet another video AI startup entering the ring. Hedra, founded last year by Stanford PhDs Michael Lingelbach and Alex Bergman, has emerged from stealth mode with a $10 million seed round. Their mission? To build the next generation of storytelling technology.
Hedra's first offering is Character-1, which they are touting as the fastest video foundation model on the market. It's designed for talking head style video generation and promises enhanced control over character-centric video.
While AI video generation is still a very nascent space, the company has a ways to go to really stand out in an increasingly crowded market. While we haven't had a chance to test the model ourselves, from the examples that Hedra has shared, the quality of their generated videos seem to be behind other players like Kling, Luma, and Runway. Still, it's early days for the startup and one day, it could be a game-changer for content creators and marketers looking to produce narrative-driven content at scale.
Lingelbach and Bergman, who met during their PhDs at Stanford and later worked at NVIDIA, Google, and Meta, saw a massive opportunity in the rise of AI. The founders say they envisioned a platform that leverages generative video workflows to empower creators and businesses alike. That vision is now closer to reality, thanks to the support of their investors and the hard work of their dedicated team.
Their numbers speak volumes about the early interest in Hedra's technology. Since their research preview in June, over 350,000 users have generated more than 1.6 million videos on their platform. The company says they are seeing everything from dramatic monologues to AI popstars, and even educational content created by teachers.
Hedra says they are emphasizing responsible deployment, with built-in moderation filters to screen for violence, hate speech, and unauthorized use of celebrity images. It's a proactive approach to the ethical concerns surrounding AI-generated content.
The startup has ambitious plans to create a multimodal studio that integrates story, sound, and video generation into a unified workflow. This could allow users to create customizable digital avatars with unique appearances, voices, and personalities.
Hedra is being backed by some big names including Index Ventures, Abstract, and Andreessen Horowitz's Speedrun program.