London-based AI creative studio Wonder Studios has raised $12 million in seed funding to scale production amid a push to bring AI-generated content into the entertainment industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The round was led by Atomico, alongside existing investors LocalGlobe and Blackbird, and builds on Wonder\u2019s pre-seed investment, which included executives from ElevenLabs, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wonder will use the fresh funds to double its engineering team and accelerate its push into IP ownership and original content production. The team recently produced an AI music video for Lewis Capaldi\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Something in the Heavens\u2019<\/a>, created with DeepMind, YouTube, and Universal Music Group. Wonder also released its first original production, the \u201cBeyond the Loop<\/a>\u201d anthology series.<\/p>\n Wonder is working on several commercial and original projects for release next year, including an upcoming documentary with Campfire Studios, the production company behind Netflix documentaries \u201cThe Menendez Brothers\u201d and \u201cAmerica\u2019s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.\u201d Campfire\u2019s CEO Ross Dinerstein is an investor in the startup.<\/p>\n The drive for IP ownership emerges amid a wave of legal actions from Hollywood producers targeting AI companies \u2014 both for training models on their content and for generating outputs featuring copyrighted characters. Disney and Universal Studios, for example, have sued Chinese company MiniMax, as well as AI image generator Midjourney.<\/p>\n Wonder\u2019s raise also comes as Netflix goes \u201call in\u201d on generative AI<\/a> as a way to make creatives more efficient at storytelling. <\/p>\n