An Adobe sign hangs along Main Street during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27, 2025 in Park City, Utah.
David Becker | Getty Images
LONDON — Adobe has invested in Synthesia, a British artificial intelligence startup, in a bet that the technology will transform video production.
Synthesia told CNBC that Adobe’s venture capital arm injected an undisclosed amount of funds into the startup as part of a “strategic” partnership, without elaborating further on financial and commercial terms.
The startup, which says it serves more than 70% of the Fortune 100, sells a platform that businesses can use to develop videos with life-like avatars generated by AI. Individuals can make their own AI avatars, either at one of Synthesia’s production studios or on a personal device.
Adobe, a creative technology powerhouse valued at roughly $150 billion, is best known for the Photoshop image editing tool. The company also makes Premiere Pro, a video editing platform widely used by professionals in broadcast media, advertising and other industries.
“We’re building the world’s leading AI video platform for enterprise, and Adobe’s investment validates that direction,” Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli told CNBC. “We share a vision: democratizing high-quality content creation and making enterprise communication faster and more effective.”
It’s not the first time Adobe has placed a big bet on a venture-backed startup. It previously tried to acquire design platform Figma for $20 billion, but called the deal off following scrutiny from European Union and U.K. regulators. Adobe is also an active venture investor, backing startups such as Captions and VidMob.
Profitability ‘not an immediate focus’
In addition to the investment from Adobe, Synthesia also announced that it hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) — a measure of annual revenue generated from subscriptions that renew each year.
“We’ve grown approximately 100% year-over-year, driven by strong customer expansion and best-in-class unit economics,” Riparbelli said. “Surpassing $100 million in ARR puts us in a very small group of AI-native companies with real commercial traction.”
The startup remains lossmaking, however — and is not focusing on making a profit anytime soon.
In 2023, Synthesia reported a pre-tax loss of £25.2 million on revenues of £25.7 million, according to a U.K. Companies House filing. Profitability is “not an immediate focus,” Riparbelli told CNBC. “But the path is clear.”
“We’ve never chased growth at any cost,” Synthesia’s CEO said, adding the company still had cash left over from a 2023 funding round when it raised funds again earlier this year.
Synthesia was most recently valued at $2.1 billion in an investment round announced in January. Its rivals include Colossyan, DeepBrain AI, Invideo AI, Filmora and Veed.io. The startup also faces competition from OpenAI, whose text-to-video model Sora can create realistic video clips based on user prompts.
