British startup Synthesia, whose AI platform helps companies create interactive training videos, has raised a $200 million Series E round of funding, bringing its valuation to $4 billion — up from $2.1 billion a year ago.
Unlike some other AI startups, which are still a long way from turning a profit, Synthesia has found a lucrative business in transforming corporate training thanks to AI-generated avatars. With enterprise customers including Bosch, Merck and SAP, the London-based company aims to surpass $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in April 2025.
This milestone explains why Synthesia’s enterprise backers are literally doubling down. The Series E which nearly doubled its valuation was led by existing investor GV (Google Ventures), with participation from several other previous backers – including Series B lead Kleiner Perkins, Series C lead Accel, Series D lead New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NVIDIA’s venture capital arm NVentures, Air Street Capital and PSP Growth.
In addition to the ongoing support, this round will bring in both new and departing investors. On one hand, Matt Miller’s VC firm Ivantic and secretive VC firm Hedosophia are joining the cap table as new entrants. On the other hand, TechCrunch has learned that Synthesia will facilitate an employee secondary sale in partnership with Nasdaq.
To be clear, Synthesia is not going public right now – Nasdaq is not acting as the public exchange in this operation, but rather as a private market facilitator that will help early team members convert their shares into cash. These employee stock sales often occur outside this framework, but usually at prices below or above the company’s official valuation, and are sometimes frowned upon by other shareholders. With this process, all sales would be tied to a $4 billion valuation, similar to Synthesia’s Series E, while the company retains an element of control.
“This secondary is first and foremost about our employees,” Synthesia CFO Daniel Kim told TechCrunch. “This gives employees a meaningful opportunity to access liquidity and share in the value they have helped create, while we continue to operate as a private company focused on long-term growth.”
For Synthesia, this long-term development includes going beyond expressive videos and embracing the trend of AI agents. According to a press release, the company is developing AI agents that will let its clients’ employees “interact with company knowledge in a more intuitive, human way by asking questions, exploring scenarios through role-play, and receiving tailored explanations.”
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The company said early pilots have received positive feedback from customers, who have reported higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer than traditional formats. This positive response explains why Synthesia now plans to make further product improvements to its existing platform as well as investing in agents a “key strategic focus.”
Although it did not disclose revenue forecasts, the company hopes its platform will provide a welcome answer to the struggle of enterprises to keep their workforce adequately trained despite rapid change. “We are witnessing a rare convergence of two major shifts: a technology shift as AI agents become more capable, and a market shift where upskilling and internal knowledge sharing have become board-level priorities,” Synthesia co-founder and CEO Victor Ripperbelli said in a statement.
Seeing boards care more about employees than AI wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card except perhaps Ripperbelly. Along with his co-founder, Synthesia COO Stefan Tjerild, Ripperbelly took the initiative to organize a secondary sale so that employees could share in the success of the unicorn company. Founded in 2017, Synthesia now has over 500 team members, a 20,000-square-foot headquarters in London, and additional offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, New York City, and Zurich.
While unusual for a British startup, this coordinated secondary sale is the first and likely not the last, Alexandru Voica, Synthesia’s head of corporate affairs and policy, told TechCrunch. “That’s my guess.” [U.K.-based] “The longer private companies stay private, this type of structured, cross-border employee liquidity may become increasingly common, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see others do the same with Nasdaq or others,” he predicted.
