Upscale AI, a next-gen adtech startup co-founded by Herman Yang, has secured $5.5 million in pre-seed funding to enable brands to generate, test, and optimize high-quality video ads at scale - without human video teams. The round was backed by NVP Capital, M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Eniac Ventures, SuperAngel.Fund, and Breakpoint Capital, signaling strong early confidence in Upscale’s vision.

With this capital infusion, Upscale AI is poised to accelerate innovation in the rapidly expanding AI-driven video ad sector - bringing enterprise-level creative capabilities to startups and growth brands alike.

---

What Upscale AI Offers

At its core, Upscale AI delivers an end-to-end video ad platform powered by generative AI:

• Auto-generated TV-quality video ads built from scripts or product inputs
  
• Creative variants optimized for channels like YouTube, Instagram Reels, TikTok, and CTV
  
• Performance-first workflows that auto-test variants and adjust based on conversion signals
  
• Dynamic personalization and localization, powered by AI avatar, voice, and visual template systems
  
• Plug-and-play integration with existing ad platforms, analytics dashboards, and attribution tools
  

With a focus on speed, scale, and ROI, Upscale lets brands rapidly iterate creative at a fraction of production cost and time.

---

Why This Space Matters

The global digital video advertising market is projected to hit US $207.5 billion in 2025, growing to nearly US $268 billion by 2029. Mobile-first formats like Reels, Shorts, and TikTok are dominating screen time, reshaping how brands capture attention. At the same time, AI video generation is exploding - expected to surge from US $663 million in 2024 to over US $4 billion by 2034, at a CAGR of nearly 20%.

But even more revealing is how the battleground has shifted: in today’s ad landscape, the edge doesn’t lie in media buying - it lies in creative iteration velocity.

This is where Upscale delivers a serious advantage. In traditional ad campaigns, creative is often the longest bottleneck, requiring coordination across design, copy, video editing, compliance, and testing. A single campaign might take weeks. With generative AI systems, Upscale flips that model: brands can generate 50+ ad variants in minutes, tuned by region, persona, platform, or stage of the funnel - and then let machine learning models test and scale what works.

Now here’s what’s often missed: it's not just about replacing the creative team - it’s about unlocking second-order growth loops. When founders structure their go-to-market around AI-first creative cycles, they stop treating ads like one-time bets and start building compounding feedback systems. Every variant tested becomes fuel for better targeting. Every ad engagement trains the next version. The creative becomes a data-rich system, not an asset. That shift turns marketing into a true flywheel - where creative intelligence compounds week over week.

For startups scaling paid media, the strategic takeaway is this: build processes around creative iteration, not creative production. Upscale isn’t merely making videos faster - it’s making video creation fundamentally responsive to performance data. That’s the unlock.

---

Insight for Founders: Build Creative Tools Where the Pain Lives

Here’s a crucial insight from Upscale AI’s early strategy: most marketing teams struggle with a bottleneck at the creative production layer. They either outsource high-quality video or settle for low-effort UGC-style ads. Upscale closes that gap with AI-first creative workflows that produce cinema-grade ads with minimal friction.

When marketing teams can generate hundreds of ad variants in minutes, test them across regions or segments, and let performance systems auto-optimize creative choices - the entire funnel transforms. This not only cuts costs but turns creative into a growth lever. Drive higher CTR, conversions, and personalization, without adding overhead.

For founders building within AdTech or creative tools, the lesson is clear: solve where operations stagnate. Upscale tackled the video bottleneck head-on - and that’s where massive ROI lives.

---

Performance Impact: Data Speaks Louder Than Beauty

Community insights and early case studies underline the results AI-generated video ads can deliver:

• One Reddit-shared campaign reported AI ads achieving 4× more spend and 2× higher ROAS compared to traditional UGC videos (Reddit).
  
• Another pilot saw AI-generated ads deliver 28% lower cost per result and 31% lower CPC on TikTok and Instagram (Reddit).
  

In a crowded ad space, brands are prioritizing creative materials that not only look good - but perform predictively. Upscale’s real-time, data-driven creative tools help teams iterate smart instead of hard.

---

Market Momentum: AdTech Is Embracing AI

The broader advertising ecosystem is undergoing transformation:

• By 2032, the global AdTech market is expected to nearly double to US $2.5 trillion; AI-driven personalization and programmatic automation are major drivers (Fortune Business Insights).
  
• Programmatic tools powered by machine learning are helping brands optimize ad spend in real time based on performance signals across platforms.
  
• Connected TV (CTV) and short-form video budgets are booming - short-form ad spend is projected to hit US $111 billion in 2025, growing to US $157 billion by 2029 (Statista).
  

As 5G expands in APAC and beyond, mobile video ad formats are scaling fast. AI-first tools like Upscale are designed for that mobile-first, rapid-turnaround world.

---

What’s Next for Upscale AI

With $5.5 million in fresh capital, Upscale AI plans to:

• Expand its engineering and creative modeling team to refine avatar rendering, localization, and performance analytics
  
• Build integrations with major ad platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok, CTV DSPs) for auto-publish workflows
  
• Launch AI-assisted script and campaign writing to kickstart ad creation from briefs
  
• Create tools for in-market A/B testing and variant generation, powered by live engagement feedback
  
• Scale commercial partnerships with both direct-to-consumer brands and performance marketing agencies
  

The end goal is to become the creative layer in the performance advertising stack, bridging concept to execution faster than any agency or manual workflow can.