The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Jul 2025

Moonvalley builds foundational AI video models and a production‑grade generative videography platform, Marey, aimed at professional filmmakers and enterprise brands. Marey was recently released to the public via Moonvalley.com and the company works with its filmmaking arm, Asteria, to deliver cinematic, commercial‑ready outputs. Moonvalley emphasizes models trained only on licensed content to address IP and studio concerns. The company raised an additional $84 million to scale operations and meet enterprise demand, bringing total funding to $154 million. Planned uses for the new capital include expanding its licensed content library, developing API access for developers, building studio‑requested features, and growing engineering and support teams for enterprise deployments. Moonvalley develops AI video-generation tools and models (notably its Marey model) that produce up to 30-second HD clips with fine-grained camera and motion controls. The company emphasizes data provenance and legal risk mitigation, packaging and purchasing licensed videos for training rather than relying solely on public data. Moonvalley is building a user-facing interface with storyboarding and granular clip-adjustment tools that it has not yet previewed publicly. Marey can generate video from text prompts, sketches, photos, and other clips, and the company is collaborating with an AI animation studio called Asteria. Moonvalley says it will allow creators to request content removal, let customers delete their data, offer an indemnity policy, and block disallowed content and likeness-based prompts. The startup is positioning these safeguards and curated training data as its primary differentiation in an increasingly crowded generative-video market. Moonvalley is a Los Angeles–based deep learning research company focused on building next-generation generative AI creative models and an artist-first creative suite for the film industry. The company develops creative tools and deep learning models aimed at enhancing trust, transparency, and efficiency in the media industry. Moonvalley says it works with researchers, engineers and artists from DeepMind, Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft and more to design video and creative AI solutions. The team is led by co-founder and CEO Naeem Talukdar alongside John Thomas, Mateusz Malinowski, Bryn Mooser and Mikolaj Binkowski. Moonvalley plans to use new capital to continue advancing AI research, expand R&D, hire top talent, and accelerate deployment of its solutions. The company positions itself as a trusted partner for media organizations while pursuing frontier foundational video models.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2023

OP3N’s chat-based product, Superapp, aims to combine creator interactions, chats and commerce in a single interface. Superapp supports audio, video and mixed-media content and adds on-chain interactions with NFT-gated experiences while creating a crypto wallet for users who sign up via email. The product is currently in beta and has been testing with different communities. OP3N raised a $28 million Series A at a $100 million valuation and plans to use the fresh capital to further develop the application and grow its leadership team. The company aims to bridge Web 2.0 usability with web3 technologies to reduce wallet and token friction and hopes to become a decentralized Facebook, YouTube, Spotify or WhatsApp for web3 within two years. Previously, OP3N closed a $10 million seed round in 2021 from investors including Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, 500 Global, WhaleShark, Justin Kan and Sébastien Borget.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2022

De Soi produces premium sparkling non-alcoholic aperitifs formulated with natural adaptogens, low calories, and no refined sugar. The product line includes three functional flavors—Golden Hour (maca and L-theanine), Purple Lune (ashwagandha and tart cherry) and Champignon Dreams (reishi mushroom and passion flower)—each with distinct flavor notes. The beverages are sold online (website and Amazon) and have secured wholesale placements at Foxtrot, Erewhon, Boisson and Total Wine, plus other California retailers after a January launch. Founded by Katy Perry and Morgan McLachlan, the brand positions itself as an elegant alternative to alcohol. The company plans to use new capital to expand its retail footprint and bring De Soi to shelves nationwide. The article reports a recent $4M seed raise to support those growth plans.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2021

Rumble Kong League is a play-to-earn web and mobile 3v3 basketball title that integrates NFTs, fashion, and competitive clubs into a metaverse sports ecosystem. Its first drop, 10,000 Rumble Kongs designed by Sickpencil, are programmatically generated NFTs with 100+ hand-drawn traits and randomized boosts that act as playable 2D or future 3D avatars. The core game was funded through a genesis NFT drop that involves the community and gives NFT-holders direct influence on development decisions. RKL plans play-to-earn token mechanics (including an upcoming RKL token), clubs, leagues, tournaments, branded wearables, and commercial rights for NFT-holders to drive engagement among players, fans, and brands. Financially, the project raised $4.5 million in growth capital and has generated over 11K ETH (~$45 million) in secondary sales volume after its initial drop. The company aims to launch the game in 2022 and prepare for potential future expansions into other major sports while establishing itself as a lifestyle brand.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2021

Royal partners with musicians to sell NFTs that represent collective ownership and streaming rights in individual songs, positioning itself as an early entrant in NFT use beyond visual art and gaming. The platform is led by EDM artist Justin Blau (3LAU) and JD Ross, co-founder of Opendoor. Royal recently distributed hundreds of NFTs tied to Blau’s latest song that held 50% of its streaming rights and has seen nearly $600,000 in secondary sales for those tokens, implying a $6 million valuation for that single. The company aims to expand the market opportunity of blockchain for music while navigating advertising and securities-law constraints. Naithan Jones joined Royal in September as head of Growth, signaling hires to scale the business. The startup has attracted strong interest from crypto-friendly musicians and investors testing new NFT functionality for music rights. Royal is building a music-rights marketplace that fractionalizes song ownership as NFTs so fans can buy shares and earn royalties as songs gain popularity. The platform aims to sell fractionalized assets representing song rights, though the company has not disclosed a launch date or detailed product plans. Royal plans to leverage co-founder Justin Blau’s profile and music to attract early users and investors; users can sign up for early access on the site. Co-founder JD Ross brings startup experience from Opendoor, and the team says it is working closely with legal counsel to stay compliant amid regulatory scrutiny. The company’s stated mission is to democratize access to music royalties, which are today largely held by labels, private equity groups and hedge funds. Royal faces the challenge of ensuring this access benefits true fans rather than crypto speculators.