British startup Synthesia, which is revolutionizing corporate training with artificial intelligence, has just closed a $200 million Series E funding round (approximately CZK 5 billion). This investment brought the company's valuation to $4 billion (roughly CZK 100 billion), nearly double last year's valuation of $2.1 billion.
Synthesia and Its Avatars
Synthesia was founded in 2017 by a team of artificial intelligence researchers and entrepreneurs from prestigious universities, including Stanford and Cambridge. The London-based company specializes in generating videos from text using AI avatars. Its platform enables companies to create interactive training videos without the need for cameras, actors, or complex post-production.
The company offers a free version of its models with a limit of 10 minutes of video per month, while also selling fixed monthly subscriptions and custom-priced enterprise packages for those who want to create videos with fewer or no restrictions. Today, Synthesia has more than 500 employees, a headquarters spanning over 1,800 square meters in London, and additional offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, New York, and Zurich.
Unlike many AI startups that are still far from profitability, Synthesia has found a lucrative business in transforming corporate training through AI-generated avatars. With enterprise clients including Bosch, Merck, and SAP, the London-based company surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue in April 2025.
AI Agents and Interactive Training
For Synthesia, long-term growth involves moving beyond expressive videos and embracing the trend of AI agents. According to a press release, the company is developing AI agents that will allow its clients' employees to "interact with company knowledge in a more intuitive, human way by asking questions, exploring scenarios through role-playing, and receiving tailored explanations."
The company said that early pilot projects received positive feedback from customers, who reported higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer compared to traditional formats. This positive response explains why Synthesia now plans to make agents a "key strategic focus" for investment, alongside further product improvements to its existing platform.
Synthesia plans to deploy the newly raised capital toward developing software in which AI agents, or interactive video avatars, can answer questions from employees undergoing corporate training, allowing them to explore scenarios through role-playing and receive personalized explanations instead of passively consuming corporate presentations.
"We are seeing a rare convergence of two major shifts: a technological shift as AI agents become more capable, and a market shift where upskilling and internal knowledge sharing have become board-level priorities," Synthesia co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli said in a statement.
Together with his co-founder, Synthesia COO Steffen Tjerrild, Riparbelli took the initiative to conduct a secondary sale so that employees could share in the company's success.
Although the company has not disclosed revenue forecasts, it hopes its platform will provide a welcome answer to businesses' difficulties in maintaining an adequately trained workforce despite rapid change. Synthesia now processes more than 1 million contracts annually, with contract volumes growing by 173% year over year and nearly 50,000 monthly users.
Source: wsj.com
