Moonvalley raises $84M to scale ethical AI video production for Hollywood and enterprise clients

AI video startup Moonvalley just secured another $84 million in funding—and it’s not chasing hype. The AI research startup is building something Hollywood actually wants: licensed, professional-grade, and ethical AI video tools that don’t trample on creators’ rights.

The funding round, led by existing investor General Catalyst, brings the company’s total raised to $154 million. This new round includes fresh support from some big names in entertainment and tech—Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Comcast Ventures, and AI cloud provider CoreWeave. Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator, both previous backers, also returned for the ride.

With $84M in New Funding, Moonvalley Bets Big on Ethically-Trained and Responsible AI Video for Studios and Brands

Moonvalley’s approach stands in stark contrast to many of the AI video companies currently under legal fire for training models on unlicensed content. Instead, Moonvalley is betting that respect for intellectual property is going to matter more as studios, brands, and agencies move from experimentation to serious deployment. Its recently launched video model, Marey, is trained exclusively on licensed material and built with professional productions in mind.

“This funding proves you don’t have to choose between powerful technology and responsible development,” said Moonvalley CEO and co-founder Naeem Talukdar. “We’re building world-class models while respecting the creative community, and these partners will help us give studios and creators a real alternative to unlicensed models.”

With Marey now publicly available through Moonvalley.com, the new capital is expected to help scale operations and meet the surge in interest from studios, brands, and enterprise customers. The company plans to expand its licensed content library, roll out APIs, and build the kinds of features studios are asking for—tools that give filmmakers frame-level control and commercial-ready outputs.

Moonvalley isn’t doing this in isolation. The company works hand-in-hand with its in-house production studio, Asteria, led by Bryn Mooser, to build tools that actually work in a film production pipeline. Ed Ulbrich, a visual effects veteran known for work on Titanic and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, recently joined the company to lead strategic growth and partnerships, Reuters reported.

“We have the exciting opportunity to strategically partner with companies like Moonvalley, who are developing breakthrough advancements in media and technology,” said Allison Goldberg, Managing Partner at Comcast Ventures. “Moonvalley’s approach to generative videography, combining technical excellence with respect for content creators, aligns with how we think about innovation in our industry.”

The sentiment is echoed across its backers. CAA, one of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, said Moonvalley represents the kind of AI that empowers artists instead of replacing them.

“Ethically led and talent-friendly applications of AI are a top priority for CAA,” said Alexandra Shannon, Head of Strategic Development at CAA. “Moonvalley understands that AI should empower artists, not undermine them, and we are excited to help bring this new technology to our clients and the entertainment community at large.”

The technical backbone is supported by CoreWeave, which provides the compute power needed to train and deploy Moonvalley’s models at scale. “Our relationship provides Moonvalley with access to advanced compute resources – including the latest GPU systems,” said Brannin McBee, CoreWeave’s co-founder and chief development officer.

Moonvalley isn’t alone in the race to build ethical AI video tools. It faces growing competition from Lightricks, which recently rolled out its new 13B-parameter model, LTXV-13B, aimed at pushing its video generation capabilities even further. The new model builds on the success of LTX Video—Lightricks’ original, highly efficient video generator known for producing high-quality results on consumer-grade hardware at unprecedented speeds.

Inside Moonvalley’s labs, the team is focused on solving challenges that go far beyond face swaps and TikTok filters. “Our research team is solving the hardest problems in video AI, from understanding real-world physics and natural motion to giving filmmakers frame-level control,” said Mateusz Malinowski, Moonvalley’s chief scientific officer. “We’re proving that licensed models can deliver the quality and precision that professional productions demand.”

With talent from DeepMind, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Disney, and DreamWorks under one roof, Moonvalley isn’t trying to clone Hollywood—it’s trying to work with it. And that might be its smartest move yet.

Moonvalley Team