Ex-Ramp engineers raise $20M for platform Melius after scrapping their first product
Melius, an AI platform for ad campaign generation, has raised $25 million in funding. The startup, founded by ex-Ramp engineers, pivoted from its initial product to focus on creative asset generation.
Intelligence analysis by Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Founded by former Ramp engineers, Melius has secured $25 million in funding to develop its AI platform for generating ad campaigns, images, and videos. The company pivoted significantly after its initial product failed to gain traction, scrapping its codebase to focus on creative asset generation, a move that has already yielded over $1 million in annualized revenue.
Imagine you want to make cool ads for toys, but drawing and filming is hard. Melius is like a super-smart robot helper that can create the pictures and videos for your ads just by you telling it what you want, using simple words. It got a lot of money to build this helper, even after its first try didn't work out.
Analysis
Melius
Melius, an AI platform focused on generating creative assets for advertising, has successfully raised $25 million in funding, comprising a $20 million Series A led by CRV and a $5 million seed round from General Catalyst. This significant capital infusion comes after the company, founded by former engineers from the corporate spending software company Ramp, made a decisive pivot. Initially, Melius aimed to build an AI-powered performance marketing tool to help marketers manage and optimize ad spend. However, after investing over six months into development, the co-founders realized the original concept lacked viability.
Scrapping the Codebase
Co-founder Joowon Kim candidly admitted that the team "scrapped the entire codebase" and "burned all of it" to pursue a new direction. This drastic measure was taken because the initial AI-powered performance marketing tool "didn’t have legs." Instead of optimizing ad spend, the team identified a larger opportunity in creating the tools that generate the actual creative content for ad campaigns. This strategic shift led to the development of a new platform, described as an "agents lab for creative work," which has already achieved over $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of launching in July.
Market Landscape
The AI-powered creative asset generation space is becoming increasingly crowded, with notable competitors like Higgsfield, which recently achieved a $5.4 billion valuation. Other emerging players include Krea and Flora AI. Despite the competitive landscape, Kim expressed confidence, citing the vast size of the market as sufficient to support multiple companies. He views the presence of numerous competitors as an indicator of strong demand and ample opportunities for new entrants to capture market share and win customers. Kim's personal passion for digital media creation, stemming from childhood aspirations of becoming a YouTuber, fuels his drive to build tools that democratize content creation.
Key points
- Melius, founded by ex-Ramp engineers, raised $25 million in funding.
- The company pivoted from an ad spend optimization tool to an AI creative asset generator.
- Melius achieved over $1 million in annualized revenue within two months of its new product launch.
- The founders scrapped their initial codebase to pursue the new product direction.
- Despite a competitive market, Melius believes the demand is large enough for multiple players.
The company's successful pivot and rapid revenue generation suggest strong market demand for AI-driven creative tools. With substantial funding, Melius is well-positioned to scale its platform and capture significant market share in the burgeoning AI advertising space.
The AI creative generation market is highly competitive, with well-funded players like Higgsfield. Melius faces the challenge of differentiating its platform and maintaining its rapid growth trajectory amidst intense competition and evolving AI technology.
