Hedra - StartupWiki | AI Startup Research Directory

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Hedra — Startup ProfileAI video characters — Character-1 foundation model for lifelike talking videoHQ: San Francisco, CA, United States | Founded: 2023 | Employees: 25–40 (est. 2026) | Stage: Series A ($32M, a16z Infra) | Website: https://www.hedra.comAboutHedra was founded in 2023 in San Francisco by Michael Lingelbach (CEO, PhD researcher) and Alexander Bergman. It builds Hedra Studio and the Character-1 video generation model that powers viral talking-character content across TikTok and Instagram. The company launched publicly Aug 2024 with $10M seed led by Index Ventures and Abstract Ventures (Forbes coverage). In May 2025 it announced $32M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz's Infrastructure fund (Reuters May 15; Business Insider pitch deck May 15), bringing total to $44M. Hedra is known for deliberately shutting its free app at 1M users — 'free users are a false signal' — rebuilding with 6 months runway to hit $10M ARR on paid characters, with Together AI case study citing 60% cost savings at scale.Key Metrics

Series A: $32M (May 2025, a16z)

Seed: $10M (Aug 2024, Index)

Total Funding: $44M

Founded: 2023

Milestone: 1M users → $10M ARR pivot

Model: Character-1

Funding Rounds

Round: $10M (2024-08-01) — Index Ventures, Abstract Ventures

Round: $32M (2025-05-15) — Andreessen Horowitz (Infrastructure fund)

Key People

Michael Lingelbach

Alexander Bergman

Key Competitors

HeyGen —

Synthesia —

D-ID / Colossyan —

Runway / Pika —

Timeline Highlights

2025-05-15: $32M Series A (a16z Infra)

2024-Q4: 1M users → shutdown

2024-08-01: $10M Seed launch

2023: Founded