Deepdub, a Tel Aviv-based startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to dub actors into other languages while retaining their original voice, has raised $20 million in Series A funding that was led by venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners and included investments from such big-name entertainment industry veterans as Kevin Reilly, former chief creative officer of HBO Max, and Emiliano Calemzuk, the former president of Fox Television Studios and CEO of Shine Group Americas.
Deepdub says it has partnered “with multiple Hollywood studios on various projects” to localize TV and film content, with the new capital injection set to be used to take on work on more shows, films and other projects at a time when foreign shows, such as Squid Game and Lupin, have reached bigger U.S. and global audiences.
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“The funds will be used to expand the global reach of the company’s sales and delivery teams, bolster the Tel Aviv-based research and development team with additional top-notch researchers and developers, and further enhance the company’s best-in-class deep learning-based localization platform,” Deepdub said on Thursday.
The new funding round also includes participation from existing Deepdub investors Booster Ventures and Stardom Ventures, as well as new investor Swift VC. Other new individual investors include Roi Tiger, vp, engineering at Facebook parent Meta, and Danny Grander, co-founder of cloud computing Snyk, among others.
Co-founded by Ofir and Nir Krakowski, Deepdub says it “aims to bridge the language barrier and cultural gap of entertainment through high-quality localization,” leveraging “cutting-edge AI technology with a human touch to allow content creators, owners and distributors to extend their international reach and scale their offerings while maintaining the highest level of quality.” And, it noted, for audiences, “this means watching their favorite film and TV programs dubbed in native languages without losing any aspect of the original experience.”
“We are accelerating to a world where AI is now augmenting humanity’s creative potential,” said George Mathew, managing partner at Insight Partners, who will be joining Deepdub’s board. “As the media industry continues to globalize, we see Deepdub’s AI/natural language processing-based dubbing platform as essential in scaling great content to audiences everywhere. We believe Deepdub represents the next great leap forward in global content distribution, engagement and consumption.”
Added Deepdub co-founder and CEO Ofir Krakowski: “This funding fuels our ability to scale the team and expand into new markets based on a shared vision of bringing the magic of AI-based localization to audiences worldwide.”
And co-founder and chief technology officer Nir Krakowski said: “This funding round is an acknowledgement of the revolutionary technology that we have built, taking generative AI to an industry where every pixel and every sound wave is rigorously examined. By creating a deep learning platform that can generate without fail, we have consistently left our clients in awe.”
Deepdub says its technology “plugs into the post-production process of content owners and takes complete ownership of all of their localization needs.”
