Key Takeaways
- • Melius, a New York-based AI platform for generating ad campaigns, images, and videos, raised $25 million in total funding, comprising a $20 million Series A led by CRV and a $5 million seed round led by General Catalyst.
- • The startup achieved over $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of exiting stealth mode in July 2025, demonstrating rapid market traction for its AI-powered creative generation tools.
- • Founded by three former Ramp engineers—Joowon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu—Melius pivoted away from its original performance marketing tool concept after six months, scrapping the entire codebase to focus on AI-driven creative asset generation.
- • Melius positions itself as an "agents lab for creative work," competing in a crowded market that includes Higgsfield (valued at $5.4 billion as of August 2025) and smaller players like Krea and Flora AI.
Summary
Melius announced its $25 million funding round on Tuesday, marking a significant capital injection for the AI creative generation platform. The round combines a $20 million Series A led by CRV (formerly Charles River Ventures) with a $5 million seed investment from General Catalyst, positioning the startup to accelerate its AI agents platform for creative teams and marketers.
The three co-founders—Joowon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu—all previously worked as engineers at Ramp, the corporate spending and finance software company. Their journey with Melius was not linear. When the company initially launched over a year ago, the founders pursued an AI-powered performance marketing tool designed to help marketers manage and optimize ad spend. However, after more than six months of development, the team concluded that the original product "didn't have legs," according to Joowon Kim. Rather than incrementally iterate, the co-founders made a decisive pivot: they "scrapped the entire codebase" and rebuilt from the ground up.
The new direction proved significantly more promising. Nearly a year after the original launch, Melius emerged from stealth in July 2025 with a platform designed to generate ad campaigns, creative assets, and videos using AI agents. The traction has been notable—the company claims to have reached over $1 million in annualized revenue within just two months of coming out of stealth, a metric that caught the attention of tier-one venture investors.
Melius enters a competitive landscape. Higgsfield, a rapidly growing competitor in the AI creative generation space, was valued at $5.4 billion in August 2025. Smaller competitors including Krea and Flora AI are also active in the market. Despite the crowded field, co-founder Joowon Kim expressed confidence in Melius's position and differentiation, suggesting the company sees sufficient market opportunity to justify its aggressive fundraising and product development strategy.
The three co-founders—Joowon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu—all previously worked as engineers at Ramp, the corporate spending and finance software company. Their journey with Melius was not linear. When the company initially launched over a year ago, the founders pursued an AI-powered performance marketing tool designed to help marketers manage and optimize ad spend. However, after more than six months of development, the team concluded that the original product "didn't have legs," according to Joowon Kim. Rather than incrementally iterate, the co-founders made a decisive pivot: they "scrapped the entire codebase" and rebuilt from the ground up.
The new direction proved significantly more promising. Nearly a year after the original launch, Melius emerged from stealth in July 2025 with a platform designed to generate ad campaigns, creative assets, and videos using AI agents. The traction has been notable—the company claims to have reached over $1 million in annualized revenue within just two months of coming out of stealth, a metric that caught the attention of tier-one venture investors.
Melius enters a competitive landscape. Higgsfield, a rapidly growing competitor in the AI creative generation space, was valued at $5.4 billion in August 2025. Smaller competitors including Krea and Flora AI are also active in the market. Despite the crowded field, co-founder Joowon Kim expressed confidence in Melius's position and differentiation, suggesting the company sees sufficient market opportunity to justify its aggressive fundraising and product development strategy.
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