Melius raises $20 million Series A after changing its AI marketing focus

Melius, a New York startup developing AI tools to create advertising campaigns, images and videos, said it raised $25 million across two funding rounds. The financing comprises a $20 million Series A with CRV as lead investor and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst.

The company said its annualized revenue exceeded $1 million within two months of its July emergence from stealth. Its current platform followed a decision to abandon the founders’ original product.

Co-founders Joowon Kim, Young Kim and Arnav Ramu previously worked together as engineers at Ramp, which makes corporate spending and finance software. Their initial plan was an AI performance-marketing tool to help marketers oversee advertising spending and improve its effectiveness.

After spending more than six months developing that product, the founders discarded its code and started again, Joowon Kim said in an interview. They shifted toward generating campaign content rather than managing advertising budgets.

Melius now describes its product as a platform for creating work through plain-language instructions. It competes with AI creative-tool companies including Higgsfield, Krea and Flora AI. Kim said he believes demand is large enough to accommodate multiple providers.