Venture capitalists are shaking themselves out of a bear market slumber to chase deals in a pocket of artificial intelligence that’s spilled into the mainstream this year: AI that generates art, videos and writing.
Jasper AI, which last year started selling an AI-assisted writing tool, raised funding from Insight Partners at a $1.5 billion pre-investment valuation around June this year, according to two sources familiar with the talks. Startup valuations have fallen since then. But earlier this month hedge fund Coatue Management paid a higher price for new shares in the Austin, Tex.–based Jasper, which has rapidly increased its revenues using software developed by startup OpenAI.
Meanwhile, Descript, a startup that uses AI for video and audio editing and was founded by Groupon co-founder Andrew Mason, has been in talks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other investors to raise a new round, according to people familiar with the discussions.
