Blackbird invests in London-based AI creative studio Wonder
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The news: Australian venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures has joined a pre-seed investment round in London-based AI creative studio Wonder, which has raised $6 million to develop AI-powered filmmaking technology. The round was led by LocalGlobe with participation from prominent tech industry executives.
The numbers: Wonder aims to slash production costs for high-end TV and film content through its AI technology. The global film and TV production industry spent $US243 billion ($381.5 billion) in 2023, with AI in media and entertainment projected to reach $US99 billion by 2030.
The context: Co-founder and CEO Xavier Collins is from New Zealand and has extensive experience in building and scaling marketplaces, introducing companies to new markets, and growing world-class teams. He was vice president of Turo in the UK (a peer-to-peer carsharing business), held senior roles at Deliveroo after joining as one the first 30 people, and co-founded Lumiere Ventures (a film rights fund).
The investment marks another significant move into artificial intelligence for Blackbird, with partner Sam Wong highlighting the firm's strategy of partnering with startups from their earliest stages. Wonder has established partnerships with several production companies including ElevenLabs, Campfire Studios and Ravensbourne University to develop its content creation platform.
What they said: "Blackbird is honoured to be partnering with Xavier and Justin as they bring their global film, tech, and AI experience together to form Wonder," said Sam Wong, partner at Blackbird. "We love partnering from the very beginning and are excited by their human-centred approach to creative output, augmented by AI."
