Moonvalley, the Toronto- and London-based AI video startup, has announced a major milestone: raising $84 million in Series A funding led by General Catalyst. Additional backing came from Creative Artists Agency (CAA Ventures), Comcast Ventures, CoreWeave, Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator. This brings Moonvalley’s total capital raised to approximately $154 million, cementing its reputation as one of the most well-funded startups in the production-grade AI video space.

Marey: AI Video Generation Built for Professionals

At the core of Moonvalley’s offering is Marey, its AI video generation model trained entirely on licensed content - a significant differentiator in a market rife with copyright disputes and ethical concerns. Unlike tools that rely on scraped or ambiguous datasets, Marey was built from the ground up with professional creators in mind. It delivers high-definition, cinematic-quality footage, offering creative control over camera angles, motion dynamics, and visual tone. This makes it ideal for filmmakers, studios, and brands that demand high standards in visual storytelling.

Hollywood-Grade Tools with Creative Ethics at Their Core

Moonvalley has taken a deliberate path: rather than aiming for speed or mass accessibility at the expense of integrity, the company is focused on building studio-grade tools that align with ethical creative practices. All of its training data is sourced from independent filmmakers, agencies, and production houses through legally sound frameworks. This foundation empowers the company to build for serious use cases while avoiding the mounting legal issues that plague competitors.

The in-house studio Asteria - co-founded by actress Natasha Lyonne and filmmaker Bryn Mooser - acts as both a production lab and creative partner. This gives Moonvalley an edge in ensuring that its products not only function technically but also serve real-world storytelling needs in high-pressure production environments.

Moonvalley’s evolution offers a powerful takeaway for other startup founders: category-defining innovation often starts by challenging entrenched assumptions. Most competitors built AI video tools under the assumption that they could rely on freely available media scraped from the web. But Moonvalley flipped the script. They asked: What if the key to sustainable AI wasn’t open data, but licensed creativity?

That insight enabled them to redesign their data layer, turning what seemed like a constraint into a competitive advantage. In doing so, Moonvalley moved beyond being just another generative AI tool and became infrastructure trusted by studios, brands, and agencies.

For founders in any vertical, this principle is invaluable: the biggest breakthroughs often happen not by improving on the current model, but by redefining its foundations. What sacred assumptions in your industry could you challenge? What if the rules your competitors follow aren’t actually fixed?

Commercial Expansion and Product Roadmap

Moonvalley will use the new funding to expand its library of licensed visual content, upgrade infrastructure in partnership with CoreWeave, and roll out deeper integrations with partners like CAA and Comcast. Another key priority is launching enterprise-ready APIs and customization layers that give production teams and brand clients storyboard-level creative control.

Upcoming features include real-time motion control, actor consistency across scenes, and aesthetic presets designed to match popular cinematic styles. The goal is clear: provide professional storytellers with tools that feel more like working with a digital film crew than manipulating AI.

Competing with Integrity in a Crowded Market

The generative video space is increasingly competitive, with players like Runway, Lightricks, OpenAI, and others all vying for mindshare. But Moonvalley stands apart due to its focus on ethics, trust, and creative alignment. Marey explicitly disallows the generation of NSFW content, unauthorized likenesses, or deepfakes. This makes it a viable solution for creative professionals and enterprise clients who need not just power, but reliability and legal clarity.

While others optimize for mass consumer experimentation, Moonvalley is building for professionals - studios, advertisers, filmmakers - who treat content creation as both an art and a business.

Backed by Creative and Technical Firepower

Moonvalley’s investor base reflects a rare combination of Hollywood and AI ecosystem leaders. General Catalyst brings deep technical conviction, while CAA Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and CoreWeave bring entertainment and distribution muscle. The founding team includes CEO Naeem Talukdar, former product leader at Zapier, along with DeepMind veterans Mateusz Malinowski and Mik Binkowski. Strategic advisor Ed Ulbrich, a VFX legend behind Titanic and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, lends deep domain credibility.

This blend of creative and technical leadership positions Moonvalley to become a foundational player in the rapidly growing AI content economy.

Perfect Timing for Enterprise and Creative Adoption

Moonvalley’s arrival comes at a critical time. Studios and brands are embracing AI media, but are wary of legal risk and creative instability. Marey solves both challenges. Its cinematic fidelity, storyboard integrations, and focus on licensed data make it a compelling choice for organizations that want high performance without cutting ethical corners.

With the public launch of Marey and a rapidly growing customer base, Moonvalley is poised to become not just a leader in AI video, but a trusted enabler of the next generation of visual storytelling.