The AI Video Platform Transforming Business Communication
Reflecting on any given week, it’s safe to say that we ALL consume a ton of content via online video. Doing some quick math to put “a ton” into perspective, it’s roughly 17 hours on average per week, per user globally…that’s nearly 560M total hours of video consumed per hour! However, despite its ubiquity among consumers, video remains underutilized in the enterprise as it's still expensive and difficult to produce.
That’s why our team at WiL (World Innovation Lab) is excited to announce today that we’re partnering with Synthesia and participating as an investor in its Series D funding round.
The Power of Video
65% of people are considered visual learners who better process information that they see, and 77% of people prefer to learn from video over text. It’s no surprise that video stands out as an effective means of storytelling. Visual content instantly grabs our attention and keeps us engaged for long periods, often without us even realizing how much time has passed. Despite these advantages, video has yet to proliferate as the primary mode of business communication as creating videos has historically been extremely time consuming, complicated (i.e., expertise or dedicated equipment required), and expensive, making the ROI math difficult to justify, until now.
With advancements in generative AI, including content summarization and narrativization, language translation, synthetic voices, and importantly, text to video models, all of the tools necessary to create AND distribute custom videos of all kinds are readily available for individuals and enterprises alike. Even those with zero prior experience creating videos can now produce professional grade content in minutes.
A New Norm: High-Quality Video Creation In Minutes
Synthesia eloquently stitches together frontier AI technologies, including its own proprietary models, into an easy-to-use yet tremendously powerful AI video creation platform that enables high-quality video creation without special cameras, studios, or actors. Synthesia’s user-friendly products make video creation as easy and intuitive as putting together a PowerPoint presentation, making video production accessible, efficient, and scalable across industries and geographies.
Synthesia’s leading AI video creation platform smoothly transforms text into professional, lifelike videos for myriad use cases such as onboarding and training, product marketing, sales enablement, and customer support, all in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is choose a video template, select an avatar, and draft a script. You can also create a personal avatar that looks and sounds just like you and can even make your avatar speak in multiple languages - who knew learning a new language was so easy!
Combined with other generative AI tools, you no longer even need to create a script. For instance, you can prompt Synthesia to write a script while providing the underlying building blocks such as an existing PowerPoint or instruction manuals. Synthesia can process the content and generate a full video in just a few clicks.
Given the power of video and continued advancements in AI, we expect the AI video market to continue growing quickly while also attracting more and more new entrants. We’re extremely impressed by Synthesia’s proven ability to win in the enterprise thus far, counting nearly half of Fortune 500 and almost 60% of Fortune 100 companies as customers today. Going forward, we believe Synthesia will maintain its market leadership due to its enterprise-grade product quality, rich feature set, unparalleled security, commitment to AI safety, and leading underlying avatar technology.
The Sky’s the Limit
Our excitement in Synthesia stems not only from its exceptional technology and validation from customers, but also from the team's long-term vision, which aligns perfectly with our view of where content creation is heading. We have the utmost confidence in Synthesia’s Co-Founders, Victor Riparbelli and Steffen Tjerrild, to execute on that vision.
“Our grandchildren might not even read…instead, they’ll watch and listen.” This striking statement can often be heard from Victor and Steffen, and while it may sound hard to imagine today, it’s worth some reflection. Of the countless emails we receive daily, how many do we carefully read from start to finish? In contrast, how often do we find ourselves engrossed in a video for several minutes, or even hours, without even noticing? When you need to change a tire or fix a new gadget, do you flip open the instruction manual or turn to YouTube?
If creating videos becomes significantly more accessible and cost-effective, it seems inevitable that many forms of business communication will transition to video. Synthesia's AI video technology has the potential to revolutionize much of the way that information is shared, both internally with employees and externally with customers and the general public. Internally, this includes videos for onboarding and training, compliance, corporate communications, and translating content for global distribution. Externally, use cases include sharing financial results, public relations, marketing new products, how-to guides, and engaging with current and prospective customers. The opportunities for AI-powered video content are truly endless.
WiL is thrilled to participate as an investor in Synthesia's Series D funding round. We have already received several requests from major Japanese multinational corporations, who are our LPs, to use the product, and we expect Synthesia’s groundbreaking technology to significantly transform business communication and impact industries in Japan and around the globe. We are excited to support Synthesia's future growth and international expansion.
This material does not constitute an offer, solicitation or recommendation to sell or an offer to buy any securities, investment products or investment advisory services. Any offer or solicitation will be made only pursuant to a confidential private placement memorandum and subscription documents (the “Offering Materials”) and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such Offering Materials.
Any reference to a specific company or security does not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or directly invest in the company or its securities. It should not be assumed that the recommendations made in the future will be profitable or will equal the performance of the securities discussed in this document.
Certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking statements” which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “target,” “intend,” “continue,” or “believe,” or the negatives thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events or results or the actual performance of any entity or transaction may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. The information contained herein is believed to be reliable but no representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is given as to the accuracy or completeness of such information by WiL, its directors, partners or employees and no liability is accepted by such persons for the accuracy of completeness of any such information.
Certain information set forth in this presentation is based upon data, documentation and/or other information obtained from various sources believed by WiL to be reliable. Neither WiL nor any of its affiliates has independently verified any such information and they shall not have any liability associated with the inaccuracy or inadequacy thereof. All of the information herein is subject to change without notice. Portfolio characteristics and other information are provided as of the dates set forth herein. Current or future characteristics and other information may vary significantly from those provided herein and the firm undertakes no obligation to notify the recipient of any such variances. Unless otherwise stated, all representations in this presentation are WiL’s beliefs based on sector knowledge and/or research.