In conversations Insider had with AI-focused VCs, Runway came up time and time again as a startup that isn't afraid to push the bounds of what's possible.
There, he met his future cofounders, Anastasis Germanidis and Alejandro Matamala-Ortiz, and the three began exploring how to leverage neural networks outside of their normal applications, like self-driving cars, specifically in tools for artists and filmmakers. Although it can be difficult to find scientist-artist hybrids, this structure encourages cross-team collaboration, such as video and creative teams validating insights quickly for researchers, and ensures that Runway stays close to its end users, Valenzuela explained.As a"full-stack applied AI research company," as Valenzuela describes it, Runway consists of three components.
The last component is Runway's application layer, which consists of the tools that anyone, from individual creators to large film studios, can use to edit images and videos.for its flexibility, control, and defensibility, VCs told Insider. Many of these features were developed hand-in-hand with customers, who often described to Runway the problems and obstacles they ran into while creating videos, Valenzuela said.