Orson – a story-as-a-service startup – announced today that it has raised $3 million to deepen its investment in generative AI and the science of video storytelling to help users build meaningful human connections. This new investment – which was raised from a group of private investors, including Cyan Banister and Long Journey Ventures – will also be used to scale up the automated video storytelling platform StoryStrip’s technology and to support new product development in generative AI.
Created in 2020 by Ehrhard, Orson has automated the process of video storytelling with Orson’s AI-enabled Director and its StoryStrip technology. Orson makes creating compelling videos accessible and is designed to integrate into clients’ platforms to help them deepen relationships with their customers and create new revenue streams. And Orson fully automates unscripted video-making by conducting interviews, crafting stories, and automatically editing and scoring to create compelling episodes with music, imagery, and graphics. For clients, Orson’s videos translate into more engagement—and revenues; for end users, Orson’s videos translate into a way to tell their story and build authentic connections.
Orson has raised $8 million in total funding and the company also plans to invest in its story science team as well as its platform sales and marketing teams. Plus the funds will be used to support the launch of a new, soon-to-be-released product.
KEY QUOTES:
“Despite this being the most connected era in human history, we are actually more disconnected from each other than ever before. There’s a huge lack of empathy and connection across humanity, which manifests itself in schools, dating pools, offices, homes, literally everywhere. Technology is now allowing us to live in a digital first world at arm’s length from each other while the soft skills that real connections are built on, like empathy, atrophy. Orson wants to change that by leveraging the power of generative AI, and the team’s vast background in helping people tell their stories for television, to help humans be more human.”
– Orson Founder John Ehrhard, the co-owner and executive producer of OAKZ Media, a pioneering unscripted TV production company
“This funding helps us continue to expand from our beta last fall, adding new storytelling capabilities, expanding to more audiences, and continuing to develop AI capabilities for our automated director.
“We are giving every group of friends, family, or team a virtual, automated production team to help tell their story.”
– Eli Weinstock-Herman, Orson’s CTO and technical co-founder
“Everyone’s got a story, but not all can tell it right,” said Ryden. “That’s where John and his Orson team step in. They’re on a mission to transform ordinary tales into moving narratives that resonate. Backed by funding, a dedicated team, and the latest tech, they’re changing the game of storytelling for everyone. In a world craving personal connections, Orson’s use of AI, cloud computing, and the impressive cameras in our pockets is addressing this need like never before.”
– Carl Ryden, Chair of the Orson Board of Directors and Co-Founder of PrecisionLender
“The Orson team being assembled is full of rock stars who have been focused on compelling and engaging content and editing for decades,” said Frederick, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Amazon Anywhere and Amazon Web Services.
“The creation of Story as a Service generative APIs and User Interfaces that allow 3rd parties to embed broadcast quality video content into their existing mobile and web offerings is a game changer that will impact the social media, e-commerce, sports, news, and education verticals.”
– Robert Fredrick, an Orson Board Member
