ENNAVES AVATAROS OF $ 7 million seeds from M13 to build a virtual influencer platform with AI

A few years ago, several startups with a specific approach to digital avatars appeared due to all the metal buzz. While that buzz was calmed down, the generative ai has given avatars a new life, since it is easier to turn different virtual identities. Companies are testing different use cases for avatars, including D-ID and Synthesia in the business space, Zoom for meetings, Glance for Fashion, Praktika for learning and Tiktok and subtitles in the creative space.

However, Isaac Bratzel, who created popular virtual influencers such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/?hl=en” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>Lil mique and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/ameliamhemp/p/B3sELa2AXxS/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>Amelia 2.0He thinks that there is a lack of high quality avatars that not only look great but also have personalized features. And that thought process led him to build Avataros.

Bratzel previously worked on design roles on IPSOFT (where Amelia 2.0 created), the Brud virtual influence company (where Lil Miquela created) and Dapper Labs after the company acquired Brud. Avataros began after leaving Dapper Labs in 2022.

The company said it closed an initial financing round of $ 7 million led by Latif Peracha of M13 with the participation of the Andreessen Horowitz Games Fund, HF0, Valia Ventures and Menta VC.

Avataros is in an exploratory phase to find the correct adjustment of the product market. Bratzel pointed out that the company is aware that customers do not always want or need what they can do as a company, technologically or what is great.

As for M13, Peracha said that this is an exploratory round and the opportunity to support a founder who has a robust history in the Avatar space.

“We are going to see the correct business model through this exploration round and have a little more clarity on the way to follow. We believe that due to Isaac's story in Ipsoft to Brud, he is clearly the right person to build the business, ”he said.

He also added that he was part of the diligence due to speaking with a Bratzel avatar to know more about the founder.

The founder said that Avataros is aimed at making high -end avatars in the 3D space instead of attending a world of click content to generate.

“An obvious parallel are spam emails. When it is easy to create content, proliferate everywhere and want to have that differentiation of content saturation. That's where we want to be in Avatar's space, ”Bratzel told Techcrunch for a call.

“While there are existing products that have technology for avatar generation. We want to focus on the avatar itself. If you look at Lil Miquela … that is a permanent entity beyond a single project and could accumulate value over time, ”he added.

Currently, the company is incorporating Beta users and gives some existing avatars. The beginning is also launching a simple API that customers can use to integrate avatars with their sites. Bratzel said that these organizations can boost these avatars with large language models (LLM) to provide information, and also change things such as camera angles and views.

Avataros currently creates premium avatars and personalized for the clients themselves. But in the future, he wants to provide more tools for creation and adjustment to customers. Bratzel said that the main differentiation of the company would be the way in which avatars move in their space.

“The main thing that is important for us is that humans move in a unique way. Almost all Avatar solutions can create something that may resemble you but move generically. Our opinion is that humans do not move in the same way, and we want to recreate that, ”he said.

The company will use the funds to increase its equipment and also build a defamer based on automatic learning that is responsible for creating realistic movements in avatars.