When generative AI video gets real enough for Hollywood to start writing checks and not cease-and-desist letters, that’s not just a market signal, it’s a movement. And Moonvalley just became its gravitational center.
The Toronto-based AI research company locked in $84 million in fresh funding, bringing their total to $154 million. Led by General Catalyst, who clearly know a rocketship when they see one, the round also drew heavyweights like Creative Artists Agency (CAA), CoreWeave, Comcast Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator back into the mix. When VCs show up twice, you’re not a maybe, you’re a multiplier.
Moonvalley was founded in October 2023 by a dream team that reads like a sci-fi script punched up by actual visionaries. Naeem Talukdar (CEO) built Draft into a 7-figure ARR machine and scaled product at Zapier before setting his sights on generative video. Mateusz Malinowski (Chief Scientific Officer) and Mikolaj Binkowski (VP of Research) bring DeepMind pedigree and academic firepower. John Thomas (COO) is the operations anchor every founder dreams of, and Bryn Mooser, a 2x Oscar nominee and founder of Asteria Film Co., brings a filmmaker’s lens to the frontier. Oh, and in case that wasn’t enough, they just added Ed Ulbrich as Head of Strategic Growth & Partnerships, yes, the Titanic and Top Gun: Maverick guy. That’s the type of casting that makes even execs raise an eyebrow and say, “Okay, now we’re paying attention.”
Moonvalley’s not chasing virality, they’re chasing viability. Their flagship model, Marey (named after motion picture pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey), doesn’t just spit out video, it delivers 1080p native HD with full cinematic controls: camera angles, motion trajectory, pose control, inpainting, and 3D scene awareness that would make a VFX supervisor pause mid-coffee. No upscale band-aids here. Just raw, production-grade power, purpose-built for studios and creators who’ve outgrown the gimmicks.
What sets them apart isn’t just the tech. It’s the ethics. While others scrape content and hope their legal teams can outlast the lawsuits, Moonvalley trains solely on licensed, high-definition data. That’s why Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Comcast Ventures didn’t just invest, they aligned. This isn’t a toy for influencers. It’s a tool for storytellers.
You want a playbook on how to raise $150M+ in under 18 months? Start with a clearly defined market (professional filmmakers). Build something they actually need (high-res, controllable, IP-safe video generation). Then earn trust by doing the hard thing, licensing content the right way. That’s not just a product strategy. That’s an ethos.
