Synthesia
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Last reviewed
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Synthesia is a British artificial intelligence company that develops a video generation platform powered by deep learning. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the company enables users to create professional-quality videos using AI-generated avatars that speak in over 140 languages, eliminating the need for cameras, actors, or studios. Founded in 2017 by Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild, Professor Lourdes Agapito, and Professor Matthias Niessner, Synthesia has grown into one of the most prominent enterprise-focused generative AI companies in the world. As of January 2026, the company is valued at $4 billion and counts more than 50,000 organizations among its customers, including over 90% of the Fortune 100.
Synthesia was co-founded in 2017 by four individuals with backgrounds spanning business and academic research. Victor Riparbelli, who serves as CEO, previously founded RBLI, a digital strategy consultancy in Denmark, and later worked at Founders, the largest Nordic startup studio, where he focused on growth and product marketing. He then launched Immersive Futures, a consultancy specializing in machine vision, VR/AR, and machine learning. Steffen Tjerrild, the COO and CFO, partnered with Riparbelli at the Danish venture studio before co-founding Synthesia.
The academic co-founders brought deep expertise in computer vision. Professor Lourdes Agapito is a 3D vision researcher at University College London (UCL) whose work has pioneered methods for capturing 3D models of humans from 2D images. Professor Matthias Niessner is a computer vision expert at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Riparbelli was inspired to start the company after reading a research paper by Niessner that demonstrated AI's ability to generate realistic video content. The founding team drew from research conducted at UCL, Stanford University, TUM, and the University of Cambridge.
During its first three years, Synthesia focused on building computer vision technology to improve lip-syncing for multilingual content. The company essentially started as an AI dubbing tool. In 2018, it demonstrated its software on the BBC programme Click, presenting a digitized version of newsreader Matthew Amroliwala speaking Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi.
In April 2019, Synthesia gained widespread attention through a collaboration with Malaria No More UK and the advertising agency R/GA. The campaign, titled "Malaria Must Die, So Millions Can Live," featured footballer David Beckham appearing to speak in nine different languages. The team recorded video footage of Beckham and native speakers in each language, then fed the raw footage to an algorithm that learned the facial expressions for each word and adjusted Beckham's face accordingly. Brave malaria survivors effectively spoke through Beckham's face to call on world leaders to take action. The campaign exceeded 400 million impressions globally and won a CogX 2019 award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Good Use of AI. The viral success of the video also helped Synthesia close its $3.1 million seed round the same month.
After the Beckham campaign, Synthesia shifted from a bespoke service model to a self-service SaaS platform. This transition opened the product to a far broader customer base, particularly businesses that wanted to create training videos, product explainers, and internal communications without hiring film crews or voice actors. In April 2021, the company raised $12.5 million in a Series A round. By December 2021, it closed a $50 million Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins and GV (Google Ventures).
In June 2023, Synthesia achieved unicorn status when it raised $90 million in a Series C round led by Accel and NVentures (NVIDIA's venture arm), valuing the company at $1 billion. The round validated Synthesia's position as the market leader in enterprise AI video.
In January 2025, the company closed a $180 million Series D led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from World Innovation Lab (WiL), Atlassian Ventures, PSP Growth, GV, MMC Ventures, and FirstMark. This round doubled the valuation to $2.1 billion and brought total capital raised to over $330 million.
In April 2025, Synthesia announced it had surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and received a strategic investment from Adobe Ventures. Reports later emerged that Adobe had explored a potential $3 billion acquisition of the company, though no deal materialized.
In January 2026, Synthesia closed a $200 million Series E round led by GV, with participation from Evantic, Hedosophia, NVentures, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, NEA, PSP Growth, Air Street Capital, FirstMark, and MMC Ventures. This round valued the company at $4 billion post-money, nearly doubling its valuation from the Series D just one year earlier. As of this round, Synthesia had raised a total of approximately $536 million across seven funding rounds from 34 investors.
In July 2025, the company opened its new global headquarters at Regent's Place in London. The office was inaugurated by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who described Synthesia as a "London success story." By early 2026, the company employed over 650 people across seven countries.
The table below summarizes Synthesia's funding rounds.
| Round | Date | Amount | Lead Investor(s) | Post-Money Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | April 2019 | $3.1M | Seedcamp, LDV Capital | Undisclosed |
| Series A | April 2021 | $12.5M | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Series B | December 2021 | $50M | Kleiner Perkins, GV | Undisclosed |
| Series C | June 2023 | $90M | Accel, NVentures (NVIDIA) | $1.0B |
| Series D | January 2025 | $180M | NEA | $2.1B |
| Series E | January 2026 | $200M | GV | $4.0B |
| Total | ~$536M |
Synthesia's platform allows users to create videos by typing or pasting a script. The system then generates a video featuring an AI avatar that speaks the script with synchronized lip movements, facial expressions, and body gestures. Users can also provide a document, URL, or PowerPoint file as input, and the platform will produce a finished video complete with background visuals and text overlays. No cameras, microphones, or video editing expertise are required.
The underlying technology relies on neural networks trained on video footage of real people. Synthesia's models learn the relationship between speech audio and corresponding facial movements, enabling realistic lip-sync across dozens of languages from a single recording session.
Synthesia offers over 240 stock AI avatars that users can select for their videos. These range from diverse demographics and professional styles. In addition to stock avatars, the platform supports several custom avatar options:
In September 2025, Synthesia launched its Express-2 avatar engine. These second-generation avatars display full-body visibility with expressive body language synchronized to the script. Key improvements include natural hand gestures and pointing, multiple camera angles (close-ups, medium shots, wide shots), professional presentation style with contextual gestures, and an enhanced emotional range that adapts based on the tone of the script content.
The platform supports video creation in over 140 languages and accents. Users have access to more than 1,000 AI voices. Synthesia can also automatically translate existing videos into different languages while maintaining natural lip-sync. Voice cloning is available for enterprise users, allowing individuals to clone their own voice and use it with any avatar across multiple languages through cross-lingual synthesis.
Synthesia includes a browser-based video editor with drag-and-drop functionality. Users can add text overlays, images, screen recordings, background music, and transitions. The platform provides over 60 video templates designed for common use cases such as training modules, product walkthroughs, sales enablement content, and onboarding materials. Brand kits allow organizations to enforce consistent branding, fonts, and color schemes across all videos.
On October 1, 2025, Synthesia launched version 3.0, marking a major shift in the platform's capabilities. The update introduced several features that transform video from a one-way broadcast medium into an interactive, two-way experience.
The flagship feature of Synthesia 3.0 is Video Agents. These are AI agents embedded within videos that can talk, listen, and respond to viewers in real time. A Video Agent can be inserted at any point in a Synthesia video, allowing it to begin a live conversation with the viewer. Use cases include running interactive training sessions, screening job candidates, guiding customers through product workflows, and answering viewer questions on the spot.
Video Agents operate with access to an organization's knowledge base, meaning they can provide answers grounded in specific business context. They can also capture data in real time and feed it back into enterprise systems. Video Agents became available in early 2026 for Enterprise plan customers.
Synthesia 3.0 also introduced Interactivity 2.0, which lets creators embed quizzes, polls, hotspots, and forms directly within videos. Branching Scenarios allow creators to build non-linear, "choose-your-own-adventure" style videos for training or storytelling, where the narrative path changes based on viewer decisions. According to Synthesia, these interactive elements lead to significantly higher completion rates and improved knowledge retention compared to passive video.
Additional features planned for 2026 include Copilot, an AI assistant that writes video scripts in seconds, connects to knowledge bases, and suggests visual elements. The Courses feature reimagines workplace learning by designing interactive experiences that combine avatars, Video Agents, and interactivity tools while measuring skill development over time.
Synthesia focuses primarily on the enterprise market, deriving roughly 70% of its revenue from enterprise deals. As of late 2025, the company reported more than 60,000 customers globally. Its penetration among Fortune 100 companies grew rapidly: from approximately 40% in 2023 to over 60% by January 2025, then to more than 70% by April 2025, and reaching 90% by October 2025. The company's presence among FTSE 100 firms is similarly strong, with 70% of the FTSE 100 reportedly using the platform.
Notable enterprise customers include Xerox, BSH Home Appliances (Bosch), Zoom, Microsoft, SAP, and Merck.
The most common enterprise use cases for Synthesia fall into several categories:
| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| Employee Training | Companies create onboarding, compliance, and skills training videos at scale without film crews |
| Learning & Development | L&D teams produce multilingual training content that can be updated instantly when information changes |
| Sales Enablement | Sales organizations build product demos, pitch videos, and competitive battle cards as video content |
| Customer Support | Support teams create how-to guides, troubleshooting walkthroughs, and FAQ videos |
| Product Marketing | Marketing teams produce product explainers, feature announcements, and promotional videos |
| Internal Communications | HR and leadership teams share company updates, policy changes, and strategic communications via video |
BSH, the largest manufacturer of home appliances in Europe with over 60,000 employees, deployed Synthesia as part of a pilot project. Around 500 BSH employees actively use the platform to create training content that reaches colleagues worldwide. BSH reported a 30% increase in engagement with e-learning content compared to traditional text-based modules and PowerPoint presentations.
Xerox adopted Synthesia for its global sales learning programs. The company previously relied on external agencies and voiceover actors in multiple languages, which was both expensive and slow. With Synthesia, Xerox can now produce multilingual training videos internally, reducing costs and turnaround time while maintaining consistency across regions.
Synthesia has demonstrated strong revenue growth since its pivot to a self-service platform.
| Year | Annual Revenue (Estimated) | ARR Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | ~$42.8M | Reached $42.8M |
| 2024 | ~$62M | 45% YoY growth |
| 2025 | ~$100M+ | Crossed $100M ARR in April; reached ~$146M ARR by September |
The company earned a G2 rating of 4.7 out of 5 based on customer reviews. Its growth has been driven by expansion within existing accounts, acquisition of new customers across all pricing tiers, and continuous platform innovation with enterprise-grade security features.
Synthesia offers a tiered subscription model with four plans.
| Plan | Monthly Price (Annual Billing) | Video Minutes/Month | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 3 minutes | 9 stock avatars, basic editor |
| Starter | $18/month | 10 minutes | More avatars, AI script assistant |
| Creator | $64/month | 30 minutes | 90+ avatars, custom fonts, audio downloads |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Custom | Full avatar library, 240+ avatars, SAML SSO, priority support, SCORM export, 1-click translation, Video Agents |
Custom Studio Avatars cost an additional $1,000 per year on non-Enterprise plans. Enterprise pricing requires contacting Synthesia's sales team and typically includes dedicated account management, custom integrations, and advanced analytics.
Synthesia has invested heavily in security and compliance to serve regulated industries and large enterprises. The company holds the following certifications:
Synthesia partners with A-LIGN, a security and compliance firm trusted by over 4,000 global organizations, for its audit processes. The company also publishes a Trust Center at security.synthesia.io where customers can review compliance documentation.
As a company that generates synthetic media, Synthesia has developed a multi-layered approach to preventing misuse of its technology.
Synthesia's ethical framework is built around three principles:
Synthesia participated in a public red team test conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in collaboration with Humane Intelligence. Thirty expert security testers challenged the platform's content moderation capabilities, focusing on preventing the creation of non-consensual deepfake content and other harmful material. The company published findings and lessons from the exercise, demonstrating a commitment to transparency in its safety practices.
Synthesia operates in the rapidly growing AI video generation market, which was valued at approximately $614.8 million in 2024 and is projected to reach $2.5 billion or more by 2032. Several companies compete in this space, each with distinct positioning.
| Company | Headquarters | Founded | Focus | Notable Differentiators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia | London, UK | 2017 | Enterprise AI video | 240+ avatars, 140+ languages, Fortune 100 penetration, SOC 2/ISO certifications |
| HeyGen | Los Angeles, USA | 2020 | SMB and creator AI video | Avatar IV ultra-realistic technology, credit-based pricing, 175+ languages |
| D-ID | Tel Aviv, Israel | 2017 | Creative Reality and animation | Animates still images, 120+ languages, $48M total funding |
| Colossyan | Budapest, Hungary | 2020 | E-learning and training | Multi-avatar scenes (up to 4), conversation-based training focus |
| Elai.io | San Francisco, USA | 2020 | Interactive educational content | URL-to-video, affordable pricing |
HeyGen is widely considered Synthesia's closest competitor. HeyGen reached $100 million in revenue by October 2025 and serves over 85,000 customers. It raised $60 million in a June 2024 Series A led by Benchmark at a $500 million valuation. While HeyGen is favored by marketers, small businesses, and content creators for its flexible credit-based pricing and highly realistic Avatar IV technology, Synthesia dominates the enterprise segment with its compliance certifications, SAML SSO, SCORM export, and deep integrations with corporate learning management systems.
D-ID, based in Tel Aviv, focuses on its Creative Reality platform, which can animate still images into talking-head videos. D-ID has raised $48 million in total funding and supports over 120 languages. While D-ID appeals to creative professionals and smaller businesses, it lacks the enterprise-grade security and compliance features that define Synthesia's offering.
Synthesia's technology stack is rooted in academic research on computer vision, facial animation, and speech synthesis. The company's early work drew from Agapito's research on 3D reconstruction from 2D images at UCL and Niessner's work on facial reenactment at TUM. Over time, the platform has expanded to incorporate:
The company has not published a detailed breakdown of its model architectures, but it has noted that its Express-2 engine represents a generational leap in avatar realism and expressiveness.
Synthesia has received recognition from several industry bodies and publications:
| Name | Role | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Victor Riparbelli | CEO & Co-Founder | Former founder of RBLI consultancy; worked at Founders (Nordic startup studio); founded Immersive Futures |
| Steffen Tjerrild | COO, CFO & Co-Founder | Former colleague of Riparbelli at Danish venture studio |
| Lourdes Agapito | Co-Founder & Chief Scientist | Professor of 3D Vision at University College London (UCL) |
| Matthias Niessner | Co-Founder | Professor of Computer Vision at Technical University of Munich (TUM) |