HeyGen
| ISIN | 🆔 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded 📆 | 2020 |
| Founders 👔 |
|
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | heygen |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
HeyGen is a generative artificial intelligence company that creates photo-realistic avatars via user-submitted photos and videos.[1] The digital avatar can recite prompts in multiple languages, with the end goal of replacing traditional content creation.[2]
Overview
HeyGen generates a photo-realistic video avatar through the use of user-submitted content.[1] The company also offers a library of pre-made avatars and voices.[2] These avatars can be used to narrate videos generated from text. Users are also able to translate existing video content or scripts into multiple languages for the avatar to recite, replicating the original voice and changing lip movements to match the new language.[2][3]
HeyGen's services were used to translate and lip-sync the Argentinian president Javier Milei’s 2024 speech to the World Economic Forum,[4] although they are predominantly used for the purpose of advertising, internal training videos, and the creation of visual chatbots,[5] which has been done by companies such as Salesforce, Nvidia, Volvo and Amazon.[6]
Moderation
When submitting content to be used in the generation of a video, users are required to give verbal consent, along with a spoken password to verify their identity. Human moderators are used to remove and block any content used for the purpose of bullying, harassment, and the spread of disinformation,[5] in addition to the use of an automated content filter.[2] These safeguards are intended to prevent the creation of deepfakes.[7]
History
HeyGen (originally named Surreal, later rebranded from Movio)[8] was founded by Joshua Xu and Wayne Liang in 2020. At the time of the company’s founding, the founders were based on the West Coast of the United States but were working from China due to government travel restrictions enacted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair attended college together at Tongji University in Shanghai, and at Carnegie Mellon University. Xu quit his job at Snap, while Liang left his roles at ByteDance and Smule, a karaoke app, to start HeyGen. The company initially raised capital from investors including Sequoia China (now HongShan) and ZhenFund.[1] Heygen established its headquarters in Los Angeles in 2022[6] and hosts its data in Ohio.[5]
The HeyGen app officially launched in September 2022. In November 2023, the company raised $5.6 million in funding from Sarah Guo’s venture capital firm, Conviction. In exchange for the funding, Guo would replace HongShan’s seat on the board of directors. As of the same date, the company reported employing 25 people.[1]
In June 2024, Heygen raised $60 million in a funding round that valued the company at $500 million. The funding was led by Benchmark, with participation from Conviction, Bond Capital, and Thrive Capital. As of that date, the company reported having more than 40,000 customers and an annualized recurring revenue of $35 million.[5]
In November 2024, HeyGen was recognized by Fast Company as part of the publication’s “Next Big Things in Tech” list.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Kai, Kenrick (29 November 2023). "AI Video Startup HeyGen Launches Near-Instant Avatar Generator, Adds $5.6 Million In Funding". Forbes.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Fried, Ina (1 September 2023). "How to create your own personal deepfake". Axios.
- ↑ Herrman, Josh (28 March 2024). "The Deodorant AI Spokesmodel Is a Real Person, Sort Of". New York Magazine.
- ↑ Thomas, Sean (20 January 2025). "AI just changed the world. Again". The Spectator.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Metz, Rachel (20 June 2024). "AI Video Startup HeyGen Valued at $500 Million in Funding Round". Bloomberg.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Olcott, Eleanor (6 June 2024). "US tech sector pressures Chinese venture capital to divest". Financial Times.
- ↑ Wang, Fan (14 May 2024). "How AI turned a Ukrainian YouTuber into a Russian". British Broadcasting Corporation.
- ↑ Le, Kelly (24 June 2024). "AI start-up HeyGen raises US$60 million after pivoting away from mainland China investors". South China Morning Post.
- ↑ Sullivan, Mike (19 November 2024). "The 11 next big things in AI and data innovations for 2024". Fast Company.
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