Jared Leto invests in AI startup Captions for simple video creation and digital avatars

Captions, an AI startup that simplifies video creation and editing, has secured $60 million in a new funding round led by Index Ventures. The investment pushes the company's valuation to $500 million. The round also saw participation from Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and actor Jared Leto. Captions' software enables users with no filmmaking experience to create, edit, and share videos featuring multilingual avatars. CEO Gaurav Misra revealed that nearly 3.5 million videos are shared monthly through the company's app, which has already surpassed 10 million total downloads. Captions integrates its proprietary AI models with those from other providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Eleven Labs. The company faces competition from well-funded and highly valued startups such as HeyGen and Synthesia. Among Captions' latest offerings is a generative AI video editor.