Nvidia-Backed Synthesia Expands AI Avatars for HR and Sales Training

TLDR

• Synthesia raised 200 million dollars in new funding to expand its AI avatar technology.
• The company is now valued at 4 billion dollars after nearly doubling its previous valuation.
• Nvidia joined the funding round along with GV, Accel, Hedosophia, and Evantic Capital.
• Synthesia is building interactive AI avatars that can hold real-time conversations for training and HR purposes.
• The company reported reaching 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue in April.

Synthesia has secured $200 million in new funding to expand its AI video avatar technology for corporate use cases. The company now holds a $4 billion valuation following the round led by GV, Alphabet’s venture arm, with participation from Nvidia, Accel, Hedosophia, and Evantic Capital. Synthesia plans to scale its avatars from script readers to interactive agents that can handle sales training, HR tasks, and recruitment.

Synthesia Secures Funding to Build Interactive AI Avatars

Synthesia confirmed it raised $200 million in a fresh round to accelerate product development for enterprise markets. The funding nearly doubles its previous valuation from $2.1 billion in 2023. The company is prioritizing avatars capable of two-way conversations for employee training and onboarding.

CEO Victor Riparbelli said the new product enables faster and more scalable corporate training systems. “We’re providing one part of the solution today,” he said, “but the other part still needs human input.” Synthesia aims to automate common training roles with AI avatars that replicate realistic conversations.

The company already works with Microsoft, UBS, and Ford and reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue in April. Riparbelli stated that revenue has grown since, though no updated figure was shared. Customers include sectors like retail, financial services, and healthcare.

Nvidia Joins Investors as Synthesia Targets HR and Sales

Nvidia joined the latest investment round as Synthesia shifts focus toward enterprise use cases like sales coaching and internal communications. The new avatars can answer questions, simulate interviews, and support staff training with conversational AI. The team has tested the new systems over the past four months.

In early demos, avatars performed well but missed a few questions due to technical connection issues. The bots featured close-to-real visuals and speech with multilingual capabilities. Pricing for the new system is not finalized but will depend on usage levels.

Riparbelli used a custom avatar bot to rehearse press interviews ahead of the announcement. He said the tech helps reduce preparation time and improves consistency. Synthesia no longer targets advertising or consumer content after shifting its focus to stable business markets.

Corporate Focus Replaces Entertainment Goals

Synthesia originally launched in 2017 to explore media and entertainment content, but changed direction after generative chatbots became mainstream. The team integrated language models into avatars to create lifelike, responsive characters for training and enterprise use. The earlier vision of making consumer content like ads and movies has now ended.

In 2024, the company dropped its entertainment ambitions after producing a commercial using Lionel Messi. Riparbelli explained the decision, saying, “If it competes in a newsfeed, that’s not something we want to do.” He emphasized that many competitors failed due to unstable use cases.

Public investors are tracking Synthesia as enterprise demand for AI training solutions increases. The CEO said the company chose partners who supported long-term growth over high valuation offers.

“I would rather have a business that I feel good about,” he said.

Synthesia has yet to achieve profitability but continues to invest in infrastructure and product development.