Australian tech startup, Leonardo.Ai, has successfully raised AU$47 million to revolutionise the way entire art ecosystems are created. Within less than a year, the platform has garnered a considerable user base of seven million globally, with its users creating 4.5 million images a day, amounting to over 700 million images in all.
Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital and Samsung Next were named as the investors.
Leonardo.Ai, designed to empower and quicken human creativity, offers more than 470,000 AI-trained models. This platform permits creators to elaborate and materialise various design concepts, spanning from gaming characters to entire fashion lines and architectural designs.
Leonardo.Ai, considered one of the country's fastest-growing SaaS companies, was launched just last year. The innovative platform is proving to be instrumental for creatives, aiding in the ideation, conceptualisation, and creation of a vast spectrum of creations, from gaming worlds to fashion and architectural designs. The platform's popularity continues to rise, becoming the third most popular Discord channel and growing its Discord community to close to 2 million members.
Beyond merely providing a creative platform, Leonardo.Ai allows its users to create and build complex ecosystems of hyper-realistic art, making it possible to save, edit, and build multiple assets according to the same style and feature set. These concepts and elements have the potential to be used repetitively, allowing creators to evolve their work over time.
Professionals and novices alike have access to custom-built and fine-tuned AI models for image generation. "Our mission is to empower creativity, whether you're a novice who loves art or a professional who creates every day."
"We're helping democratise creativity by lowering the barrier to entry, and we're also accelerating creative productivity for professionals," stated JJ Fiasson, CEO and co-founder of Leonardo.Ai.
The application of Leonardo.Ai is multifaceted. Video producers, for example, can use the platform to storyboard scenes or short films, and game designers can mock up characters within seconds. Brand owners are using it to brief ad agencies, thereby reducing the friction between ideation and creation.
"We're reducing the friction between ideation and creation - something we feel is really powerful. By simplifying exploring new ideas, this helps spark creativity and leads to more captivating creative output," affirmed Fiasson.
The funding secured will further the development of the platform’s tech and team, thereby enhancing the creative process for millions of users worldwide. Industries including entertainment, fashion design, advertising, architecture, AAA gaming studios, and Razer Axon are already utilising the tools provided by Leonardo.Ai.
Leonardo.Ai has also launched Realtime Canvas, a new tool that turns user input into polished illustrations, designs, and photography in real-time, marking a significant shift in generative AI.
In addition, the platform launched a primary Enterprise offering, which introduces collaborative tools for teams and private cloud infrastructure. "Even more impressive has been the speed in which the product has been expanded to serve a wide variety of industries, showcasing their growing ambition," commented Niki Scevak, Partner at Blackbird.
Moreover, Leonardo.Ai has received two new senior hires, welcoming Donna Thomas, formerly of AWS and Antler, to serve as Chief of Staff, and Ellie Miller, formerly of Depop and Oodle, taking the role of Chief People Officer. They bring a wealth of experience in high-growth startups and will contribute to the continued rapid expansion of the Leonardo.Ai team.