Runway is an applied AI research company founded in 2018 by Cristobal Valenzuela, Anastasis Germanidis and Alejandro Matamala Ortiz [7] that builds generative AI platforms for creating and editing videos, images and multimedia content [2]. Headquartered in Manhattan [13], the company develops text-to-video and video generative AI models aimed at filmmaking, post-production, advertising, editing and visual effects [17], with its model line including Gen-1, Gen-2, Gen-3, Gen-4 and Gen-4.5 [17]. Gen-4.5 generates high-definition video from text with native audio, long-form multi-shot generation and character consistency [6]. Beyond core video models, Runway ships Aleph 2.0, Act-Two, Edit Studio, Runway Dev and a consumer iOS app [16]. In December 2025, the company released its first world model [5]. Runway raised a $315 million Series E in February 2026 at a $5.3 billion valuation [3], with proceeds earmarked for pre-training next-generation world models for medicine, climate, energy and robotics [5].
Funding
- Series E, $315MFeb 10, 2026
with General Atlantic
- Series D, $308M
with Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, General Atlantic, NVIDIA, SoftBank
Leadership & org chart
Alumni
Recent developments
- Runway launches Media Router for AI model routing. Runway launched the Media Router, a developer tool that automatically selects the best image, video or audio generation model based on priorities for quality, speed or cost.[1]Jul 23, 2026
- Co-released Stable Diffusion, the open-source text-to-image model, in August 2022.[19]
Alumni
- Anastasis GermanidisCo-Founder & CTO
Funding history
- Raised a $315 million Series E on 10 February 2026 at a $5.3 billion valuation, nearly double its previous round. General Atlantic led, with Nvidia, Fidelity Management & Research, AllianceBernstein, Adobe Ventures, Mirae Asset, Emphatic Capital, Felicis, Premji Invest and AMD Ventures participating.[3]Feb 10, 2026
- Raised a $141 million Series C extension in June 2023 at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Google, Nvidia and Salesforce participating; earlier rounds were $8.5M Series A (Dec 2020), $35M Series B (Dec 2021) and $50M Series C (Dec 2022).[22]
Traction
- Runs an annual AI Film Festival (AIFF) that grew from roughly 300 submissions in 2023 to more than 6,000 in 2025; the company was named to Time's 100 Most Influential Companies in June 2023.[12]
Product
- Gen-4.5, Runway's latest video model, generates high-definition video from text with native audio, long-form multi-shot generation, character consistency and advanced editing tools.[4]Feb 10, 2026
- Released its first world model in December 2025, a system that builds internal representations of an environment in order to plan for future events; the Series E is earmarked for pre-training the next generation of world models aimed at medicine, climate, energy and robotics.[5]Feb 10, 2026
- Runway builds commercial text-to-video and video generative AI models aimed at filmmaking, post-production, advertising, editing and visual effects. Its model line runs Gen-1, Gen-2, Gen-3 and Gen-4, with Gen-4.5 the most recent video generation model.[20]
- Beyond the core video models, Runway ships Aleph 2.0, Act-Two (performance capture/character animation), Edit Studio, Runway Dev and a consumer iOS app.[21]
Customers
- Runway tools have been used in production on the film Everything Everywhere All at Once and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[11]
Partnerships
- Recently partnered with Adobe and signed a compute deal with CoreWeave, while seeing expanding adoption in gaming and robotics.[6]Feb 10, 2026
- Signed a partnership with Lionsgate in September 2024 to train a custom generative model on the studio's catalogue of more than 20,000 titles.[17]
- Partnered with AMC Networks in June 2025 to use AI-generated content for marketing images and pre-visualization work.[18]
NYC headquarters
Backers
- FBaillie Gifford
- FFidelity
General Atlantic
Global investment firm founded in 1980 with roughly $130 billion under management, investing through growth equity, credit, energy transition and infrastructure strategies across technology, healthcare and consumer.
- FNVIDIA
- FSoftBank
Deals & lineage
Spun out of
NYU Tisch School of the Arts
NYU school whose Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) is where Runway's founders met and where, per CEO Cristobal Valenzuela, Runway was born
Partnerships
AMC Networks
Television and streaming company that partnered with New York AI video company Runway across marketing and TV development in 2025
CoreWeave
GPU cloud provider that signed a $1.17B commercial partnership with New York City-headquartered VAST Data in November 2025
Getty Images
Licensed visual content marketplace that partnered with New York AI video company Runway on the enterprise Runway-Getty Images Model (RGM)
Lionsgate
Film and television studio that partnered with New York AI video company Runway in 2024 on a custom model trained on its film catalog
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