HomeEx-Ramp Engineers Raise $20M for Melius Platform After Pivoting From First Product
Melius, an AI-driven platform for creating ad campaigns, images, and videos, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $25 million in total funding. This includes a $20 million Series A round led by CRV and a $5 million seed round backed by General Catalyst.
Although the startup reports generating over $1 million in annualized revenue within just two months of emerging from stealth in July, co-founder Joowon Kim (pictured on right) acknowledges that Melius did not achieve immediate success.
When the New York-based company launched more than a year ago, Kim and his co-founders, Young Kim (pictured on left) and Arnav Ramu (pictured center), aimed to build an AI-powered performance marketing tool. The three had previously worked together as engineers at Ramp, a corporate spending and finance software company.
More than six months after developing the initial product, the co-founders realized their original concept “lacked potential,” Joowon Kim told TechCrunch.
Rather than assisting marketers with managing and optimizing ad spend, the team shifted its focus to what they identified as a significantly larger opportunity: creating tools that generate creative assets and campaigns directly.
“We discarded the entire codebase; we burned it all,” Kim explained. Melius rapidly pivoted to develop an entirely new product. Nearly a year after its initial launch, the company unveiled a platform it describes as an “agents lab for creative work.”
Melius is not the only startup assisting ad agencies, marketers, and brands in generating creative assets and campaigns using AI. Key competitors include the rapidly expanding Higgsfield, which reached a $5.4 billion valuation in August, as well as smaller startups like Krea and Flora AI.
Kim remains unconcerned about the competitive landscape.
He acknowledged that Higgsfield, a three-year-old company generating over $700 million in annualized revenue, “is growing rapidly,” but according to Kim, the market’s sheer size can accommodate multiple competitors.
“There are many players, which is quite exciting,” he told TechCrunch. “That indicates there are customers to win and strong demand in this sector.”
Regarding why former Ramp engineers are focusing on ad generation, Kim, who identifies as a social media influencer, stated that he has been passionate about creating short videos since elementary school and once aspired to become a famous YouTuber.
“I tried my best to create vlogs,” he said. “My dad was skilled with FinalCut Pro, but I was not.”
Those early vlogs never gained significant traction, but his interest in digital media production persisted.
Now, with Melius, he is building the tool he always envisioned: a platform where anyone, including experienced creative directors, can bring their ideas to life using simple language.
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Melius, an AI-driven platform for creating ad campaigns, images, and videos, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $25 million in total funding. This includes a $20 million Series A round led by CRV and a $5 million seed round backed by General Catalyst.
Although the startup reports generating over $1 million in annualized revenue within just two months of emerging from stealth in July, co-founder Joowon Kim (pictured on right) acknowledges that Melius did not achieve immediate success.
When the New York-based company launched more than a year ago, Kim and his co-founders, Young Kim (pictured on left) and Arnav Ramu (pictured center), aimed to build an AI-powered performance marketing tool. The three had previously worked together as engineers at Ramp, a corporate spending and finance software company.
More than six months after developing the initial product, the co-founders realized their original concept “lacked potential,” Joowon Kim told TechCrunch.
Rather than assisting marketers with managing and optimizing ad spend, the team shifted its focus to what they identified as a significantly larger opportunity: creating tools that generate creative assets and campaigns directly.
“We discarded the entire codebase; we burned it all,” Kim explained. Melius rapidly pivoted to develop an entirely new product. Nearly a year after its initial launch, the company unveiled a platform it describes as an “agents lab for creative work.”
Melius is not the only startup assisting ad agencies, marketers, and brands in generating creative assets and campaigns using AI. Key competitors include the rapidly expanding Higgsfield, which reached a $5.4 billion valuation in August, as well as smaller startups like Krea and Flora AI.
Kim remains unconcerned about the competitive landscape.
He acknowledged that Higgsfield, a three-year-old company generating over $700 million in annualized revenue, “is growing rapidly,” but according to Kim, the market’s sheer size can accommodate multiple competitors.
“There are many players, which is quite exciting,” he told TechCrunch. “That indicates there are customers to win and strong demand in this sector.”
Regarding why former Ramp engineers are focusing on ad generation, Kim, who identifies as a social media influencer, stated that he has been passionate about creating short videos since elementary school and once aspired to become a famous YouTuber.
“I tried my best to create vlogs,” he said. “My dad was skilled with FinalCut Pro, but I was not.”
Those early vlogs never gained significant traction, but his interest in digital media production persisted.
Now, with Melius, he is building the tool he always envisioned: a platform where anyone, including experienced creative directors, can bring their ideas to life using simple language.
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