Moonvalley Secures $84M in Funding Led by General Catalyst

Moonvalley, an AI research company, has raised $84m in a funding round led by General Catalyst. The total funding now stands at $154m. The company aims to scale its production-grade AI generative videography platform, Marey, and expand its licenced content library. The new funding will also help recruit engineering and support teams for large-scale enterprise implementations.

Moonvalley AI Inc., a leading AI video tools company for Hollywood, has secured $84 million in new funding. The round was led by General Catalyst Group Management, LLC, with participation from Khosla Ventures, LLC, CAA Ventures, CoreWeave, Inc., Comcast Ventures, and Y Combinator Management, LLC [1]. This brings the company's total funding to $154 million [1].

The funding will support Moonvalley's efforts to enhance its AI video tool, Marey, which has been released to the public after successful testing with filmmakers and studios. Marey is sold on a subscription and licensing basis, starting at $14.99 a month. The company is trained on licensed content and has addressed copyright concerns by using content from independent filmmakers and YouTubers [1].

Moonvalley's CEO and co-founder, Naeem Talukdar, stated that the new funding will help the company build on Marey and potentially integrate it into the workflows of major studios. He also mentioned that the company is working on being more transparent about the sources of its licensed content [1].

The funding round reflects the growing interest in AI's potential to revolutionize the film industry. Moonvalley's competitors, such as Midjourney, have faced copyright infringement allegations, which highlights the need for ethical AI models in Hollywood. Moonvalley's Marey is trained on licensed content, addressing these concerns [1].

Moonvalley is one of the few companies working directly with major studios, offering AI tools for various aspects of film production. The company believes that AI will not replace creative ideas but rather enhance them, leading to better and more films [1].

Moonvalley has released Marey, an AI video-generation model designed specifically for professional filmmakers and studios. With a focus on creative control, legal safety, and ethical sourcing, Marey positions itself as a serious alternative to text-to-video tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo 3 [2].

Unlike many AI video models that rely on scraped internet content, Marey was trained entirely on licensed material, including B-roll from independent filmmakers and archives secured through partnerships with platforms like Vimeo. This makes it one of the first commercially safe AI video systems for production environments, reducing the risk of copyright disputes [2].

Marey has already been adopted in pilot programs by major studios and ad agencies and was used by Moonvalley’s in-house studio Asteria (formerly XTR) for a Carl Sagan documentary. The model is now publicly available via a subscription-based system, with pricing tiers starting at $14.99/month for 100 credits [2].

Moonvalley's CEO Naeem Talukdar emphasizes that the tool is meant to empower creators, not replace them. "It’s not very helpful if you’re a director who might reshoot a single shot 150 times to get the perfect lighting," he said. "We’re offering power tools, not automation" [2].

The system supports output at 1080p resolution and 24fps, with each clip capped at five seconds—standard for current-generation AI tools. Studios can also fine-tune their own private versions of Marey using project-specific data [2].

Moonvalley’s development involved six months of in-house testing by Moonvalley’s Asteria studio, followed by three months of external alpha use. The system was guided by input from industry professionals like filmmaker Ángel Manuel Soto, who credits Marey with reducing his production costs by up to 40% [2].

Effects veteran Ed Ulbrich (Titanic, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) recently joined Moonvalley’s executive team, citing Marey’s legally sound foundation as a major draw [2].

The system is not just about technical capabilities—it’s also a statement on accessibility. By removing the barrier of expensive cameras and physical production constraints, Marey opens doors for underrepresented creators around the world. "Back home, we needed to ask for permission to tell our stories," said Soto. "AI gives you the ability to do it on your own terms" [2].

Moonvalley's licensing-first approach is a central selling point. The company says around 80% of Marey’s training data came from filmmakers and agencies who intentionally licensed B-roll and footage, rather than having their content scraped unknowingly [2].

The funding round also reflects Oracle's accelerating effort to establish a stronger foothold in Europe's growing digital economy and meet rising enterprise demand for generative AI computing. Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) announced plans on Tuesday to invest $3 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure across Germany and the Netherlands over the next five years [3].

This move follows Oracle's growing global CapEx trend and recent efforts to compete more directly with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The initiative is also expected to support Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in gaining more share in mission-critical workloads like ERP, healthcare, and public sector deployments [3].

References:
[1] https://www.ainvest.com/news/moonvalley-ai-secures-84m-funding-led-general-catalyst-comcast-ventures-joining-2507/
[2] https://www.cined.com/moonvalley-releases-marey-a-commercially-safe-ai-video-model-tailored-for-professional-filmmakers/
[3] https://site.financialmodelingprep.com/market-news/oracle-commits--billion-to-ai-and-cloud-expansion-in-europe