Synthesia, a British startup with an AI platform that helps companies create interactive training videos, has raised $200 million in a Series E round, giving it a $4 billion valuation, up from $2.1 billion just a year ago.
Unlike some other AI startups that are still far from turning a profit, Synthesia has found a lucrative business in transforming corporate training thanks to AI-generated avatars. The London-based company, whose enterprise customers include Bosch, Merck and SAP, surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in April 2025.
This milestone explains why Synthesia’s venture backers are literally doubling. The Series E, which nearly doubled its valuation, was led by existing investor GV (Google Ventures), with participation from 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.
Apart from ongoing support, this round will have participation from both new and exiting investors. Meanwhile, new entrants to the cap table include Matt Miller’s VC firm Evantic and secretive VC firm Hedosophia. Meanwhile, TechCrunch has learned that Synthesia plans to partner with Nasdaq to promote secondary sales for its employees.
Just to be clear, Synthesia is not listed yet. Nasdaq is not acting as a public exchange in this operation, but rather as a private market facilitator to help early team members convert their shares into cash. These employee stock sales, which often take place outside this framework, can be frowned upon by other shareholders, as they are usually done at prices below or above the company’s official valuation. This process will ensure that all sales are tied to the same $4 billion valuation as Synthesia’s Series E, while the company retains an element of control.
“This secondary material is first and foremost about our employees,” Synthesia CFO Daniel Kim told TechCrunch. “We continue to operate as a private company focused on long-term growth, while giving our employees meaningful opportunities to access liquidity and share in the value we create.”
For Synthesia, this long-term growth includes moving beyond expressive video and embracing the AI agent trend. According to a press release, the company is developing an AI agent that allows customers’ employees to “interact with corporate knowledge in a more intuitive and human-like way by asking questions, exploring scenarios through role-play, and receiving customized explanations.”
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The company said initial pilots have yielded positive feedback from customers, reporting higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer compared to traditional formats. This positive response explains why Synthesia now plans to make agents a “core strategic focus” of its investments, alongside further product improvements to its existing platform.
Although it hasn’t disclosed revenue projections, the company hopes its platform will provide a welcome answer to companies’ struggles to keep employees properly trained despite rapid change. “It’s rare for two major changes to converge,” Synthesia co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli said in a statement.
The introduction of AI to make boards more focused on employees was not on anyone’s bingo card, except perhaps for Mr. Riparbelli. Riparbelli, along with co-founder Synthesia COO Steffen Tjerrild, took the lead on secondary sales to enable employees to share in the unicorn’s success. Founded in 2017, Synthesia currently has over 500 team members and a 20,000 square foot headquarters in London, with additional offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, New York City and Zurich.
While unusual for a British startup, this collaborative secondary sale is not the first and likely won’t be the last, Alexandru Voica, Synthesia’s head of operations and policy, told TechCrunch. “My guess is that this type of structured cross-border employee mobility could become increasingly common as (UK-based) private companies go private for longer, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see other companies such as Nasdaq do it,” he predicted.
