Jeffrey Katzenberg bets big on AI video ads with a $15.5 million investment in Creatify
Jeffrey Katzenberg has long backed ambitious ventures—from cofounding animation studio DreamWorks to championing digital innovation through his investment firm WndrCo. Now, he’s supporting a bold new vision for the future of advertising. WndrCo has co-led a $15.5 million Series A investment in Creatify, an AI video ad platform that has quietly reached $9 million in annual recurring revenue just 18 months after launch.
Co-led alongside Kindred Ventures, the latest round brings Creatify’s total funding to $23 million, with Katzenberg also joining the company’s board.
Founded by a trio of engineers who previously built video ad products at Snap, Meta, Airbnb, and Meta’s AI research lab FAIR, the San Francisco-based startup helps businesses rapidly produce high-performing, AI-powered video ads for social media—without relying on traditional production or content creators.
“I’ve spent my career looking for the tools that give storytellers an edge. That’s why I’m excited about AI video,” Jeffrey Katzenberg, cofounder and CEO of DreamWorks SKG and WndrCo, tells Fast Company. “Brands today need hundreds of custom ads across dozens of platforms, fast and cost-effectively. Traditional production just can’t keep up, but AI can. That’s what makes it a game changer.”
The platform features a library of over 750 lifelike AI avatars and more than 140 natural-sounding voices, enabling brands to deliver personalized messages in up to 29 languages. It also includes a built-in scriptwriting tool for crafting ad narratives.
Creatify’s cofounder and CEO, Yinan Na, says his experience working on Snap Spotlight and Meta video ads taught him that great creative content, when guided by the right algorithms, naturally finds its audience.
“I saw video’s unique power to engage audiences at scale, but also how complex and out of reach video advertising can be for most businesses. Those experiences shaped my vision for Creatify as the ‘Shopify of video........
© Fast Company
