Melius, a New York-based startup founded by three former Ramp engineers, announced it has raised $25 million in total funding, including a $20 million Series A led by CRV and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The company builds an AI platform for generating ad campaigns, images, and videos. It says it passed $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of coming out of stealth in July.
The founders initially built a performance-marketing tool, but after more than six months of development they concluded the idea didn't have legs and scrapped the entire codebase. They shifted focus to what they saw as a larger opportunity: creating the creative assets and campaigns themselves. Melius now describes its product as an "agents lab for creative work."
The startup faces competition from fast-growing rivals such as Higgsfield, which was valued at $5.4 billion in August, as well as smaller players like Krea and Flora AI. Co-founder Joowon Kim acknowledged Higgsfield is "growing like mad" but argued the market is large enough to support multiple competitors. He also noted his personal background: a longtime interest in making short videos and a childhood dream of becoming a YouTuber, which helped inspire the platform's plain-language creative tools.