HeyGen lets you type a script and get a photorealistic AI avatar reading it in 175 languages. It started as a tool called Movio and hit around $35 million in annual revenue faster than almost any AI startup on record. Benchmark led a $60 million round in 2024 that valued it at $500 million. The catch is that the same tech which makes marketing videos also makes very convincing deepfakes. HeyGen is betting it can be the good version before the bad version defines the category.
Founded
2020
HQ
Los Angeles, USA
Total Raised
$74 million
Founder
Joshua Xu, Wayne Liang
Status
Private
Website
www.heygen.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
HeyGen began in 2020 as Movio, built by Joshua Xu and Wayne Liang. Xu had worked as an engineer at Snap on ad systems.
He kept seeing how slow and expensive it was to make marketing videos. So the pair built software that turns a plain script into a video of a digital presenter.
No camera, no actor, no studio. They rebranded to HeyGen in 2023.
The company has roots in Shenzhen but moved its base to Los Angeles.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Companies pay HeyGen a monthly subscription to make videos without cameras, actors, or studios. A marketing team types a script.
HeyGen generates a lifelike avatar that speaks it. Pricing runs from a free tier up to enterprise plans.
The bigger money is in business customers who need hundreds of localized videos. Instead of reshooting an ad in ten languages, they click a button.
THE PRODUCTS
The core product is AI Avatar, which turns text into a video of a digital presenter. Video Translation clones a voice and lip-syncs it into 175 languages.
Photo Avatar animates a single still image into a talking head. Interactive Avatar powers real-time AI agents that can hold a conversation on video.
HOW THEY GREW
HeyGen grew on the back of the generative AI wave and a very shareable product. People posted AI avatar clips on X and TikTok, which did the marketing for free.
Its video translation demo, which cloned a speaker's voice and lip-synced them into another language, went viral in 2023. Revenue reportedly jumped from around $1 million to $35 million in annual recurring revenue in about a year.
That kind of growth is what got Benchmark to write the check.
THE HARD PART
Deepfakes. The same avatar tech can clone a real person without permission.
HeyGen has had to build moderation, consent checks, and watermarking to keep bad actors out. Then there is competition.
Synthesia, D-ID, and every big AI lab are chasing the same market. HeyGen's edge is speed and quality.
Both are hard to defend when the underlying models keep improving for everyone.
MONEY TRAIL
Seed
2023 · Led by Undisclosed
$6M raised
Series A
2024 · Led by Benchmark
$60M raised
$500M valuation
WHO BACKED THEM
Benchmark led HeyGen's $60 million Series A in 2024, with partner Eric Vishria joining the board. Sarah Guo's firm Conviction backed the company early.
The round valued HeyGen at $500 million, which is steep for a company that was tiny two years earlier. The bet is that AI video becomes a default tool for every marketing team on earth.
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