Last year, 92% of marketers said that video is an integral part of their marketing strategy. The average person will spend 100 minutes every day in 2021 watching online videos according to a recent study. As organizations are investing in videos, startups are building platforms to support the process. Synthesia is an AI-powered video generation platform that saves enterprises up to 100x the cost and time of producing a video. The company leverages deep learning to simulate real videos and real actors without the need for costly infrastructure like camera crews, actors, cameras, studios, and a lengthy post-production process. Clients are able to produce professional-quality videos in minutes with a single API call and a few clicks. The company is working on codifying the entire video generation process, where videos will be generated through code, offering unprecedented scalability and efficiency. London TechWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Victor Riparbelli to learn more about the future of video production, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include FirstMark, Christian Bach, Michael Buckley, LDV Capital, MMC Ventures, Seedcamp, Mark Cuban, Taavet Hinrikus, Martin Varsavsky, and TinyVC.
Media
ELEVEN SPORTS Acquires Team Whistle to Become a Sports Media Powerhouse
London-based ELEVEN SPORTS, the international sports content provider, has agreed to acquire New York-based Team Whistle, the global sports media and entertainment company. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
10 Predictions for the Tech Industry in 2021
Chris Cunningham of C2 Ventures offers some predictions for what 2021 will bring to tech, covering AR, privacy, insurtech, and much, much more…
How Businesses Should Incorporate Streaming Entertainment in Reopening Strategies
A look at how businesses can transform their TVs from background noise to short-form entertainment that could increase revenue in a Post-COVID-19 world.
BibliU Raises $10M for its Accessible E-Library of Textbooks for College Students
Textbooks are becoming obsolete and BibliU is one of the reasons why. The London startup, cofounded by CEO David Sherwood also makes content more accessible for college students; saving them 50-75%, while unlocking new technology-driven ways to learn.
New Narratives and the Future of Storytelling
Think of books, radio, film, and television: audiences had no choice but to sit back and read, watch, or listen, with no role to play in the narrative, no opportunity to fully engage all the senses.
Then the Internet arrived—the first two-way mass medium in history—and with it, people suddenly had the ability to engage with content, to share it and give feedback. This ushered in the new wave of social media, where people could not only comment on and share content but also create their own.
Where We Are Investing Now: Emergent Community
What is an emergent community? If you’re building a community-based business this a must-read from one of the leading VCs in the space.
Stream of Consciousness: How Netflix and its Rivals Will Define Entertainment
Recently, Netflix had its first drop in US users in nearly a decade. The streaming giant’s subscriber base fell by 130,000 in the US– the first drop since 2011 according to the Wall Street Journal. Netflix has always been an expert at playing the long game (remember when they used to ship you DVDs?), but […]
Musk is Wrong, We’re Not Already Cyborgs
Neuralink proposes to transcend reality and make virtual experiences feel totally real. How will Elon Musk’s neuralink challenge subjectivity?
Quantity Can Be The Gateway Quality: A New Way To Think About Content
The more content you put out for more audience demographics and segments, the more you can really understand what they respond to and refine what you’re putting out based on actual data – instead of only depending on the subjective opinions of decision-makers.