The funding, led by Inworld AI, Intel Capital and with the participation of Section32, will enable developers to create interactive AI-driven characters for virtual worlds.
Inworld AI was founded by speech-based artificial intelligence developers Ilya Gelfenbeyn, Michael Ermolenko and Kylan Gibbs. The platform, a developer dedicated to producing artificial intelligence-driven virtual characters, announced today the end of the series A funding round. The company has raised an additional $50 million to bring richer social interactions to bring richer immersive worlds in gaming, metaverse, entertainment and brand experiences. Social interactions to immersive worlds in gaming, metaverse, entertainment and brand experiences. Turnout, Founders Fund, Accelerator Investments LLC, First Spark Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, BITKRAFT Ventures, CRV, Microsoft’s M12 fund, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, SK Telecom Venture Capital, NTT, Docomo Ventures and The Venture Reality Fund.
Inworld AI gives life to characters for the metaverse, gaming and business applications. During this period, virtual universes became more immersive, realistic and open, while interactions with the character remained more static compared to those based on written dialogue and behavior. Ilya Gelfenbeyn, CEO of Inworld, said, “Last year, the research conductedwe saw it in them. This suggests that online relationships can be just as meaningful as those established in real life. With Inworld, you can create game NPCs (non-playable characters), local populations for virtual worlds, virtual influencers, brand representatives, in-world guides, and digital people who can build relationships with users and unlock deeper interaction. This is the future of entertainment, told through characters with a rich inner life, in which the audience is invited to participate, taking the immersive to the next level.”
Inworld uses advanced AI to create generative characters whose characters, ideas, memories, and behaviors are designed to mimic the deeply social nature of human interaction. The Inworld platform The Inworld platform has a code-free accessible studio for writers, designers and producers to create AI characters. With integrations with the most well-known game engines such as Unreal and Unity, it makes it easier for developers to embed their characters in game environments.
“Inworld’s AI platform takes the complexity out of developing intelligent virtual characters that have the potential to unlock a variety of new online experiences,” said Section32 Managing Partner Andy Harrison. and enables organizations to deliver rich, brand-based experiences with AI-powered virtual characters that can deliver memorable user experiences.”
“Demand for immersive content and experiences is growing, leading a thriving creator economy and unlocking opportunities for individual developers,” said Srini Ananth, Managing Director, Intel Capital. “Inworld has quickly become a trusted resource for developers flocking to the platform to create AI-powered virtual characters with human-like speech, facial movements and body language for immersive realities such as metaverse, VR/AR, games, and virtual reality.”
Inwrold AI has raised a total of $70 million since its inception. Of this, 20 million consists of the preliminary seeding round and 50 million dollars consists of the funds raised from the A series.
Since closing the startup round in March of this year, Inworld has launched its beta product. He has appointed John Gaeta (Academy Award Winner) as Creative President and has been selected as one of the six companies that will participate in the 2022 Disney Acclerator. This year’s Disney Accelerator class focuses on building the future of immersive experiences and specializes in technologies such as augmented reality (AR), immutable tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI) characters. Inworld has wide applications outside of gaming and the metaverse, and can also be used for entertainment, sales and marketing, and education and training.
About Inworld AI
Inworld AI, game, metaverse, VR/AR and immersive experiences for AI-oriented is a developer platform for creating virtual characters. Founders of Inworld, API.AI (Acquired by Google and now known as Dialogflow), pioneered speech-based AI platforms and generative models at Google and DeepMind. The company continues to build its talented team with specialists in generative language models, emotions, speech synthesis, multimodal interaction, design and 3D animation. Inworld, Section32, Intel Capital, Founders Fund, Accelerator Investments LLC, BITKRAFT Ventures, first Spark Ventures, The Venture Reality Fund, Kleiner Perkins, CRV, Meta, Microsoft’s M12 fund, Micron Ventures, LG Technology Ventures is funded by investors including NTT. Inworld was one of the six companies selected for the 2022 Disney Accelerator.
About Intel Capital
For more than three decades, Intel Capital has invested more than US$20 billion in the future of computing by supporting prominent, early-stage startups in four key areas of the technology ecosystem; Silicon, Frontier, Devices, and Cloud. Intel Capital-backed companies have generated more than 700 IPOs and exits over the past 10 years, creating a market capitalization of more than US$100 billion.
About Section32
Chapter 32 is a venture capital fund that invests in the frontiers of technology. Founded by Bill Maris, the team has vast experience in building iconic companies. The firm’s goal is to accelerate the discovery, development and deployment of revolutionary technologies that improve the human condition. Section 32 invests in the full range of technology. This includes cybersecurity, enterprise software, fintech, web3, quantum computing, space, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computational biology, and biotechnology.
