Google has invested in Runway, a New York-based startup that uses AI to create and transform images and videos from text prompts and more, sources told The Information. The investment of an undisclosed amount was reportedly part of Runway's recent $100M funding round, which values the company at $1.5B. About the company: - Runway is one of the startups behind the popular text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion.
- It offers several products, known as "AI Magic Tools," for editing and creating images and videos:
- Runway's Gen-1 lets users input an existing video and transform its style using a text prompt, image, or present style.
- Gen-2 can synthesize original videos from a single text or image prompt, text and image prompts combined, or a source video and driving images.
- It also has a new iOS app to alter the style of videos on iPhones using text, image, and present prompts.
Financials: - Runway's $100M round, a Series D, reportedly tripled Runway's valuation from its Series C funding round, which closed in December.
- According to Business Insider, the Series D round involved an unidentified cloud service provider rather than a traditional VC firm.
- Google has been making equity investments in AI startups, offering cash and Google Cloud credits in exchange for equity.
- As part of these deals, Google is asking the startups to choose it as their preferred cloud provider.
- While Runway was previously endorsed by Amazon Web Services, it's now expected to use Google's cloud servers.
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