The valuation of Nvidia-backed AI video platform Synthesia has been doubled to $2.1 billion.

• NEA led a $180 million funding round for British artificial intelligence startup Synthesia, which was announced on Wednesday.
• Synthesia's current valuation is $2.1 billion, which is more than double its previous valuation of $1 billion during its last funding round in 2023.
• Victor Riparbelli, CEO of Synthesia, stated to CNBC that his company does not rely on venture capital as heavily as companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

An investment round of $180 million has been raised by Synthesia, a video platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to produce clips with multilingual human avatars, valuing the startup at $2.1 billion.

Synthesia's value has more than doubled since its last financing in 2023.

NEA led the funding round for the London-based startup, with participation from Atlassian Ventures, World Innovation Lab, and PSP Growth, the company announced on Wednesday.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is among the portfolio companies of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), while Synthesia is also supported by a chip giant.

Synthesia's CEO, Victor Riparbelli, stated to CNBC that the company's emphasis on "utility" led investors to evaluate it differently from other businesses in the industry.

""Building an actually good business is what's important for us, as the hype cycle benefits us," Riparbelli stated in an interview."

Riparbelli stated that Synthesia is not "dependent" on venture capital, unlike companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral.

While these startups have secured billions of dollars at impressive valuations, they have also spent significant amounts of money on training and developing their foundational AI models.

Companies in the application layer of AI have not received as much investor attention as those in the infrastructure layer, according to Eric Liaw, a London-based partner at VC firm IVP.

Liaw stated in a CNBC interview last month that the amount of money that application layer companies need to raise is not as significant as Nvidia, which means their valuations are not as impressive.

Riparbelli stated that the funds from the latest financing round would be utilized to enhance product development and bolster security and compliance measures.

Synthesia recently introduced several updates to its platform, including the capability to create AI avatars using a laptop webcam or phone, full-body avatars with arms and hands, and a screen recording tool that utilizes an AI avatar to guide users through what they're viewing.

In October, Synthesia conducted a public red team test to assess risks related to online harms, showcasing how its compliance controls can prevent the creation of non-consensual deepfakes and the use of its avatars to promote suicide, adult content, or gambling.

Elon Musk's Twitter, formerly known as X, was led by Rumman Chowdhury, a renowned data scientist who was formerly head of AI ethics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Large enterprise customers in the U.S. are increasingly showing interest in Synthesia due to its emphasis on security and compliance, as stated by Riparbelli.

Nearly half of Synthesia's annual revenue originates from customers in Europe, with the U.S. accounting for more than half.

Recently, Synthesia has been increasing its hiring efforts. The company has appointed former Amazon executive Peter Hill as its new chief technology officer. As a result, Synthesia now has over 400 employees worldwide.

The unveiling of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's 50-point plan to make the U.K. a global leader in AI was followed by Synthesia's announcement.

The U.K. Technology Minister, Peter Kyle, stated that the investment demonstrates the confidence investors have in British technology and emphasizes the global leadership of U.K.-based companies in the field of generative AI innovations.