Surreal
诗云科技
Surreal is an AI video generation platform best known for its product HeyGen, which hit $35 million ARR without building its own foundation model, per a 2024 ZhenFund interview with its founder . The company was founded by Changyin Zhou, a former Google X researcher who had previously started another company before returning to China to build what became Surreal . In 2021, Surreal raised seed funding from Sequoia China Seed, ZhenFund, and IDG Capital, with ZhenFund leading the angel round and re-upping at the Pre-A stage . The platform has been used in brand campaigns including a McDonald's "Sweet Connections" marketing activation that let users record messages translated into their grandmothers' native languages via AI-generated video . Yongteng Wen, described as one of HeyGen's earliest investors, has cited the company among his portfolio of AI startups that surpassed $100 million ARR .
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Coverage
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