led the financing, which included participation from , , , and 1聽, among others. The capital was raised at a $5.3 billion valuation, up from $3.3 billion at the time of its $308 million Series D round last April, which was also led by General Atlantic.

In total, the New York-based startup has raised $860 million since its 2018 inception.

Runway describes itself as an applied AI research company building world models for , as well as 鈥渃utting-edge鈥� video generation models that it says are used by tens of millions of consumers and enterprises. Put more simply, the company makes software that enables users to create videos using text prompts or images. Last year, Runway unveiled its new AI model, , which can create videos with consistent characters and backgrounds. It continues to iterate on that model.

Its funding round is another example of robust investor interest in video AI startups. Global funding for AI-related video companies in 2025 totaled $3.08 billion, per 附近上门 . That鈥檚 up 94.6% from the $1.58 billion raised by AI-related video startups in 2024. is another example of a company in the space that raised a large round in 2025 鈥� that was announced in November at a $4 billion valuation.

From film studios to fintech

Runway declined to reveal revenue figures, with Michelle Kwon, head of operations and partnerships, telling 附近上门 News only that the startup is 鈥済rowing extremely fast.鈥� The company sells its product on a subscription basis, with various pricing tiers for individual subscriptions and a per-seat model for enterprises.

Its customers are in a wide range of industries and include 鈥渆very major film studio,鈥� according to Kwon, in addition to advertising and marketing firms and in-house creative teams, ad and marketing teams, gaming companies and architecture firms. Its customers include , , , , , , , , , and .

Runway is increasingly working with robotics and autonomous vehicle companies, as its models 鈥渋mprove their ability to simulate real-world environments,鈥� Kwon told 附近上门 News.

鈥淲e鈥檝e continued to release industry-leading generative video models, including our latest, while also pushing further into world models, which we believe will be key to solving humanity鈥檚 hardest problems across fields like medicine, climate, energy and robotics,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also expanded our compute infrastructure, in part through an with .鈥�

Runway plans to use its new capital to scale its research and products as it aims to sign larger enterprise contracts.

鈥淲e’ll expand our research capacity and compute infrastructure with an eye on building more capable world models, and continue to develop products on top of those models,鈥� Kwon said. 鈥淭his new money allows us to scale further and faster, both in terms of frontier research and in how we productize that research.鈥�

Runway also continues to boost headcount across all areas, but particularly research, engineering and go-to-market, she added.

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• AI Image Startup Runway Raises At $3B

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One startup, , is looking to bring the user-centric micro tipping phenomenon to the United States. CEO and Cofounder told 附近上门 News that the mobile tipping phenomenon in Asia inspired Portal.

鈥淸Payments] are now just as easy in the West as they are [in Asia]. It鈥檚 just that a lot of companies have become so addicted to the ad model that they are not exploring these other models,鈥� Swerdlin expressed.

To that end, Swerdlin and his team have created a mobile video app that functions as a peer-to-peer payment-enabled content platform. The company, which is launching out of beta today, has raised an additional $2.55 million in seed funding, bringing its total funds raised to $4.2 million. The company鈥檚 investors include , , the founder of Thinx l, and others.

With the Portal iOS app, creators can upload content, which shows up in a chronological feed. They can monetize their videos through paywalls on specific content and through the tipping model that allows users to instantly give anywhere from 10 cents to $100 with purchased coins. Soon, Portal will be launching an option for subscriptions ranging from 99 cents to $24.99 a month.

In eliminating the ad model, Swerdlin and his team hope to give content creators an open opportunity to create with the support of their followers rather than relying on advertisers that the creators may not support, or that may not support their content.

Portal is similar to other monetization platforms like , which was founded in 2013. Investors have funneled $105.9 million into the creator-focused startup, and it was last valued at just under $450 million.

However, Swerdlin said that while Patreon focuses on crowdfunding, Portal is moving that idea a step further.

鈥淧atreon has done an amazing job. And what they’ve done is they’ve proven that audiences will absolutely unequivocally pay content creators. What we’re doing is we’re taking those tools for those payments, and we’re baking that directly into the experience, rather than making it a crowdfunding tool that you have to go outside to use,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. He also noted that Twitch has implemented tipping and subscriptions for gaming, but that Portal is bringing that model to uploaded content for a more mainstream western audience.

Portal鈥檚 beta users have included well-known content creators like The Young Turks and transgender activist Corey Rae.

附近上门 News asked Swerdlin how he believed the earnings potential would change as less popular users come onto the platform. 鈥淭he earning potential is limitless. And the ability to earn is important for everyone. It鈥檚 going to depend on the not necessarily a size of your audience, but that the value and depth that you’re bringing to your audience,鈥� Swerdlin said.

In sticking with the ad-free model, Swerdlin says that he expects Portal to grow organically, with the team relying on word of mouth for its future growth. Without a huge amount of traction, battling a tech behemoth that is both deep-pocketed and culturally ubiquitous will undoubtedly prove to be a challenge.

鈥淥ur focus is on making sure that this is a product that solves content creators’ and publishers’ biggest problems and gives people a platform that they can trust, where they’re getting the very best content that’s made. If we do that correctly, then word of mouth will be our greatest marketing engine.鈥�

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