British startup Synthesia, whose AI platform helps companies create interactive training videos, has raised $200 million in Series E funding that brings its valuation to $4 billion — up from $2.1 billion just a year ago.
Unlike some other AI startups that are still far from turning a profit, Synthesia has found a profitable business to transform corporate training thanks to AI-generated avatars. With corporate clients including Bosch, Merck, and SAP, the London-based company crosses over $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in April 2025.
This milestone explains why supporters of Synthesia’s efforts literally doubled. The Series E that almost doubled in value was led by investor GV (Google Ventures), with the participation of several previous backers – incl Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, Series C leads Accel, Series D led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Venture capital firm NVIDIA NVenturesAir Street Capital, and PSP Growth.
In addition to ongoing support, this round will bring new and departing investors. On the one hand, Matt Miller VC really Evantic and on secretive VC firm Hedosophia join the cover table as a new participant. On the other hand, Synthesia will facilitate secondary sales of employees in partnership with Nasdaq, TechCrunch has learned.
To be clear, Synthesia has not yet gone public – Nasdaq is not a public exchange in this operation, but rather a private market facilitator that will help early team members convert shares into cash. These employee stock sales often occur outside of this framework, but are usually at prices below or above the company’s official value, and are sometimes undervalued by other shareholders. With this process, all sales will be tied to the same $4 billion valuation as Synthesia’s Series E, while the company retains a controlling element.
“This secondary is first and foremost about our employees,” Synthesia CFO Daniel Kim told TechCrunch. “This gives our employees a meaningful opportunity to access our liquidity and share the value we have created, while we continue to operate as a private company focused on long-term growth.”
For Synthesia, this long-term growth includes beyond expressive video and embrace AI agent trends. According to a press release, the company is developing an AI agent that will allow client employees to “interact with the company’s knowledge in a more intuitive, human-like way by asking questions, exploring scenarios through role-playing, and receiving appropriate explanations.”
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The company says the initial pilot has received positive feedback from customers, who report higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer compared to traditional formats. This positive response explains why Synthesia now plans to make agents a “core strategic focus” to invest in, along with further product improvements on existing platforms.
Although it did not disclose revenue forecasts, the company hopes that the platform will provide an answer to the company’s struggle to be adequately trained despite the rapid changes. “We are seeing a rare convergence of two major changes: technological change with AI agents becoming more possible, and market changes where upskilling and internal knowledge sharing has become a board-level priority,” said Synthesia co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli in a statement.
Seeing other Boards care about employees as a result of AI is not in anyone’s bingo card, except perhaps Riparbelli. Together with the cofounder, Synthesia COO Steffen Tjerrild, Riparbelli took the initiative to hold a secondary sale so that employees could share the success of the unicorn company. Founded in 2017, Synthesia currently has more than 500 team members, a 20,000 square foot HQ in Londonand additional offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, New York City, and Zurich.
While unusual for a UK startup, this coordinated secondary sale is not the first and may not be the last, Synthesia’s head of corporate affairs and policy Alexandru Voica told TechCrunch. “My guess is that as (UK-based) private companies stay private longer, this kind of structured, cross-border employee liquidity may become more common, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see others do it, also with Nasdaq or others.