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Exclusive ... AI dubbing raise

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Exclusive ... $26M AI brand agents

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Fight for your AI rights

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Deal flow

Movin' on up (or out)

Channel surfing

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Dubformer, an Amsterdam-based AI startup that can incorporate emotional depth in language dubbing, raised a $3.6 million seed round, CEO Anton Dvorkovich tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Numerous AI firms are racing to perfect AI-generated dubbing that can match, and even surpass, the quality of human dubbing.

How it works: Dvorkovich says Dubformer works similarly to Photoshop or Figma.

It goes further than just a simple translation and voiceover, Dvorkovich says. "There's just a bunch of different ways how you want to kind of improve and control and basically creatively iterate to get a really nice dubbing. And we created the tool for that."

Last year, Dubformer debuted its proprietary Emotion Transfer tool, which adds more emotion and expressiveness to the voiceovers.

"The most important, the hardest thing to do, and kind of the pinnacle and the focus for us is to control emotions and intonations and also acoustic characteristics, like how the sound gets reflected from walls and reverberations," Dvorkovich says.

Zoom in: Almaz Capital led the round, along with angel investors including Microsoft Translator founder Arul Menezes and former Netflix film executive Funa Maduka.

Before founding Dubformer, Dvorkovich was previously the head of natural language processing and speech at Yandex, the search engine giant known as "Russia's Google."

Fun fact: Dvorkovich grew up in Russia and recalls how bad the quality of the dubbing in foreign movies was. For example, the same voice actor was used for every part, even the women's roles.

What's next: Dvorkovich's goal is to eventually have big Hollywood studios use Dubformer to translate their films.

"It's pretty good for documentaries and maybe kids animation and unscripted TV shows. But it's not yet there for the really good quality for Hollywood movies."

1 big thing: Exclusive ... AI dubbing raise

Firsthand has raised $26 million in Series A funding as it builds an AI agent platform for brands and publishers, executives exclusively tell Axios. 

Why it's the BFD: The digital advertising industry is at its next stage of evolution with the introduction of generative AI and AI agents.

Zoom in: Radical Ventures led and was joined by FirstMark Capital, Aperiam Ventures and Crossbeam Venture Partners.

The New York-based startup previously raised $6.6 million in seed funding, led by Radical Ventures.

Angel investors included former DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt, AppNexus and Scope3 co-founder Brian O'Kelley and Horizon Media president Bob Lord.

Behind the scenes: Firsthand co-CEOs Jonathan Heller and Michael Rubenstein met at DoubleClick, the ad exchange acquired by Google. Rubenstein later helped build AppNexus, the programmatic ad platform acquired by AT&T. Heller co-founded FreeWheel, the online video ad platform acquired by Comcast.

Heller says he met with Rubenstein in the spring of 2023 to discuss launching the startup after educating himself on AI. Their third co-founder and CTO is Wei Wei, previously an engineering lead at FreeWheel.

"A lot of the stuff that's described as agents today is optimizing or automating marketing as it already exists," Heller says. "We think the opportunity is so much different and bigger than that."

How it works: Firsthand enables marketers and publishers to engage consumers through AI agents, which can be distributed on their own sites and on other sites as paid media.

Firsthand also created a data and rights management system called Lakebed that helps agents work with multiple parties' data and protects that data.

"[Agents] act as sort of guides, where they're surfacing the right information that makes sense in that moment for what that type of customer or consumer might want," Heller says. 

The company declined to disclose specific clients but said it includes top global publishers, agencies and brands.

The bottom line: "AI as a new communications medium that can fundamentally revolutionize the way that brands and consumers and publishers build relationships and communicate is the most exciting change and opportunity we've seen, I think, in our careers," Rubenstein says.

2. The BFD: Exclusive ... $26M AI brand agents

Vermillio, the Chicago-based AI licensing and protection platform, has raised a $16 million Series A co-led by DNS Capital and Sony Music, executives exclusively tell Axios.

Why it matters: Sony Music's first investment in AI licensing seeks to protect its artists and support them in responsibly using generative AI tools.

How it works: Vermillio's TraceID tool monitors online content for use of intellectual property, as well as name, image and likeness. The platform can automatically send takedown requests and manage payments for licensed content.

The company charges $4,000 per month for the software and takes a transaction fee for its licensing tool. 

Clients include movie studios like Sony Pictures, record labels like Sony Music, talent agencies like WME, and individual talent.

With Sony Pictures, Vermillio let fans create AI-generated Spider-Verse characters. It partnered with The Orb and David Gilmour, alongside Sony Music and Legacy Recordings, on AI tools for creating tracks and artwork inspired by "Metallic Spheres In Colour."

Flashback: Prior, Vermillio raised $7.5 million in seed funding from angel investors.

What's next: Neely says Vermillio plans to expand to sports and work with major sports leagues this year. It's also releasing a free version of the product that shows whether someone is at high or low risk of AI copyright.

3. Fight for your AI rights

Go deeper in our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Anthropic raised $3.5b at a $61.5b post-money valuation.  Lightspeed Venture Partners led and was joined by Cisco Investments, Fidelity, D1 Capital Partners, General Catalyst, Menlo Ventures, Jane Street, and Salesforce Ventures. Go deeper

• Apollo is in early talks to lead around $35b in financing for Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) to build U.S. data centers, per Bloomberg. Go deeper

• Duetti, a music financing startup that acquires catalogs from independent artists, secured $200m in debt financing led by Viola Credit. Go deeper

• GB News owners, including Sir Paul Marshall, invested around an additional £34m last year into the conservative-leaning British news broadcaster. Go deeper

• General Catalyst is in the very early stages of considering an IPO, Axios' Dan Primack scoops. Go deeper

• MNTN, an Austin, Texas-based provider of TV advertising software, sold Maximum Effort, the Ryan Reynolds-backed advertising production agency, "to an affiliate of its original owner." The news came as MNTN filed for an IPO. Go deeper

• Wasserman, a Los Angeles-based management and talent agency, acquired Bluemedia, a branding and signage firm. Go deeper 

• Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) sold agency R/GA to a group led by private equity firm Truelink Capital. Go deeper

• TKO Group (NYSE: TKO) completed its acquisitions of IMG, On Location, and Professional Bull Riders from Endeavor Group (NYSE: EDR). Go deeper

4. Deal flow

• Rachel Whetstone, former Netflix comms chief, joined Sierra, the AI startup founded by former Salesforce CEO and current OpenAI chair Bret Taylor, Axios' Eleanor Hawkins scoops. Go deeper

• Andrew Cripps, former Warner Bros. distribution executive, is joining Disney as head of global theatrical distribution. Go deeper

• Marc Hustvedt, president of MrBeast, is leaving to join Contrarian, a digital media company dedicated to financial education and empowerment, to serve in the same role. Go deeper

• E.W. Scripps is laying off staff across multiple local news stations. Go deeper

5. Movin' on up (or out)

⚾️ MLB plots a new TV model after striking out with ESPN (WSJ)

"The league is left to find a new national broadcast partner or partners for the 2026 through 2028 seasons, while [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred also tries to execute an ambitious and wildly complex plan to overhaul baseball's long-term television strategy," Jared Diamond and Isabella Simonetti write.

🎥 Oscars draw 18M viewers, down from 2024 (THR)

"The show marked the first time the Academy Awards were live streamed, though Hulu suffered a number of technical glitches during the evening, including cutting off the final two awards of the night for some users," Rick Porter writes.

🏈 FSU, Clemson, ACC near landmark settlement (Front Office Sports)

"If the parties can successfully settle, the ACC will have secured its future with its current 18 members until at least 2036, when its grant of rights contract—which binds schools' media rights together and imposes exit fees if they leave early—expires," Amanda Christovich writes.

March 04, 2025

1 big thing: Exclusive ... AI dubbing raise