Melius Raises $25 Million for AI Ad-Generation Platform

Melius, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former Ramp engineers, has secured $25 million in total funding. This capital includes a $20 million Series A round led by CRV and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst. The New York-based company has built what it calls an "agents lab for creative work," allowing users to generate ad campaigns, images, and videos using plain language.

The funding comes shortly after a major pivot for the startup. Co-founders Joowon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu initially launched the company over a year ago to build an AI-powered performance marketing tool for managing ad spend. However, after six months of development, the team decided the concept lacked potential, scrapped their entire codebase, and shifted to creative asset generation. Since emerging from stealth in July, the revamped platform has quickly gained traction, reaching more than $1 million in annualized revenue in just two months.

Melius enters a highly competitive and rapidly growing market for AI-generated marketing assets. It faces established rivals like Higgsfield, which achieved a $5.4 billion valuation in August and has reached over $700 million in annualized revenue. Other smaller startups, such as Krea and Flora AI, are also vying for market share. Despite the crowded field, Melius leadership believes the market is vast enough to support multiple players as demand for automated creative tools continues to surge.

For marketing practitioners and creative directors, the platform aims to democratize high-quality digital media production. By replacing complex editing software with natural language prompts, Melius allows users without technical video-editing skills to quickly translate conceptual ideas into production-ready marketing assets. This shift could significantly reduce the time and technical barriers traditionally associated with launching multi-channel ad campaigns.