Melius Secures $25 Million to Revolutionize AI-Driven Creative Advertising
Melius, a rising AI platform designed to generate ad campaigns, images, and videos, announced on Tuesday that it has raised a total of $25 million in funding. This includes a $20 million Series A round led by CRV and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The New York-based startup has rapidly gained traction, reporting over $1 million in annualized revenue within just two months of its public debut in July.
Despite this impressive milestone, co-founder Joowon Kim candidly admits that Melius’s journey wasn’t straightforward. When the company initially launched over a year ago, Kim and his co-founders, Young Kim and Arnav Ramu—who previously worked together as engineers at Ramp, a corporate spending and finance software firm—set out to create an AI-powered performance marketing tool. However, after more than six months of development, they realized that their original concept “didn’t have legs,” prompting a pivotal pivot.
From Performance Marketing to Creative Automation
Rather than focusing on optimizing ad spend, the Melius team shifted their attention to a broader and more ambitious objective: building tools that generate the creative assets and campaigns themselves. “We scrapped the entire codebase; we burned all of it,” Kim shared in an interview with TechCrunch. This bold move led to the development of a new product, which the company describes as an “agents lab for creative work.”
This repositioning reflects a growing trend in the marketing and advertising industry, where AI-powered creative generation is becoming a major growth area. Melius is positioning itself alongside competitors such as Higgsfield, which recently raised a $400 million Series B round and was valued at $5.4 billion in August, as well as emerging startups like Krea and Flora AI.
Market Opportunity and Competitive Landscape
While Higgsfield, a three-year-old company, boasts over $700 million in annualized revenue and rapid growth, Kim remains unfazed by the competition. He emphasizes that the market for AI-driven creative solutions is vast enough to support multiple players. “There are a lot of players, which is pretty exciting,” Kim told TechCrunch. “That means there are customers to be won and there is demand in this space.”
This perspective highlights the expansive potential of AI in transforming how brands, agencies, and marketers conceive and execute advertising campaigns. The rapid innovation and investment in this sector underscore its strategic importance within the digital marketing ecosystem.
Founders’ Background and Vision
The motivation behind Melius is deeply personal for Kim, who describes himself as a social media influencer with a long-standing passion for digital content creation. Since elementary school, he has been fascinated by making short videos and once aspired to become a famous YouTuber. “I tried my best to make vlogs,” Kim recalls. “My dad was great at using FinalCut Pro, but I wasn’t.”
Although his early attempts at vlogging didn’t take off, Kim’s interest in digital media continued to grow. With Melius, he is now building the platform he always wanted: a creative tool that empowers anyone—from amateur content creators to seasoned creative directors—to bring their ideas to life using plain language commands.
This vision aligns with broader industry movements toward democratizing creative production, enabling users to leverage AI to streamline and enhance the creative process without requiring advanced technical skills.
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