Video-Making AI Startup PixVerse Raises $439 Million and Hits $2 Billion Valuation

PixVerse, a Singapore-based company that creates software to generate videos using artificial intelligence, has just closed a major funding round. The company brought in $439 million in its Series C funding, and investors now value the company at over $2 billion, the company told TechCrunch on July 13, 2026.

This funding came in two parts. In March 2026, PixVerse raised about $300 million led by a Chinese investment firm called CDH Investments. Now, four months later, the company added another $140 million from a new group of investors, including Alibaba (the Chinese tech giant), and several other investment firms.

PixVerse was founded in 2023 by Wang Changhu, who previously worked on computer vision technology at ByteDance (a major Chinese company), and Jaden Xie, a finance executive. The company now has about 150 employees working in Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai, and opened its first U.S. office in Bellevue, Washington in March 2026.

What does PixVerse actually do?

The company makes software that turns images and text into videos. Think of it like a tool that can take a still picture and bring it to life with movement, or create an entire video from just a written description. The software can produce videos in high quality, up to 4K resolution (which is what you see on many modern televisions), and it can even add audio automatically rather than requiring someone to add sound later.

The company offers different versions of its software for different uses. One version is free or cheap for regular consumers and developers. Another version is built specifically for professional film and commercial production work. A third version, called R1, is designed for video game developers and is described as the first "world model" on the market — software that can simulate realistic environments and physics.

PixVerse says it has more than 150 million registered users and about 15 million people using it every month. The company charges about $4.80 per minute of video generated through its consumer service.

Who is investing and why?

Alibaba has been a major supporter. The company led PixVerse's previous funding round of $60 million in September 2025 and is now putting more money in. Alibaba is also using PixVerse's video technology across some of its own products.

The new investors in this round include BlueFocus, CloudAlpha, Mirae Asset (a South Korean investment firm), and several others. Some past investors returned to put in more money as well.

The valuation jump — more than doubling from March to now — is striking given how fast AI video technology is changing. The question investors seem to be asking is how much a specialized video creation tool is worth when the big artificial intelligence labs that build the foundation models keep changing and improving their technology.

For context, OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) shut down its own video generation product called Sora 2 earlier this year. When one major competitor exits a category, some investors see the remaining companies as more valuable. That said, other companies are still actively building competing products: ByteDance has Seedance, a company called Video Rebirth (started by a former Tencent AI leader) exists, and Midjourney (known for AI image generation) also offers video tools.

What this funding round shows is that investors are betting on specialized video tools — ones built specifically for consumers, professionals, or game developers — as separate from the general-purpose AI models being built by the largest labs. Whether that specialization lasts depends on what happens next. If the major AI labs decide to re-enter the video generation business with cheaper and better tools, we may see the competitive picture shift again.

The company has also been raising its profile beyond just selling software. It partnered with the UN for a global AI video summit earlier this year and created a proof-of-concept for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

PixVerse itself claimed this is Asia's largest funding round for AI video technology to date, though that statement has not been independently verified by outside observers.