British startup Synthesia has raised a $200 million Series E funding round, bringing its valuation to $4 billion. This marks a significant increase from its $2.1 billion valuation just one year ago. The company’s AI platform helps businesses create interactive training videos using AI-generated avatars.
Unlike many AI startups still seeking profitability, Synthesia has built a lucrative business transforming corporate training. It serves enterprise clients including Bosch, Merck, and SAP. The London-based company achieved a key milestone in April 2025, crossing $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
The new funding round was led by existing investor GV, with participation from several previous backers. These include Kleiner Perkins, Accel, New Enterprise Associates, NVentures, Air Street Capital, and PSP Growth. The round also welcomes new investors Evantic and Hedosophia to the cap table.
In a related move, Synthesia will facilitate an employee secondary sale in partnership with Nasdaq. This is not a public listing; Nasdaq is acting as a private markets facilitator. The process allows early team members to turn their shares into cash at the company’s $4 billion Series E valuation. This structured approach gives the company an element of control and ensures all sales are tied to the same valuation.
Synthesia CFO Daniel Kim stated the secondary sale is primarily for employees. It provides them a meaningful opportunity to access liquidity and share in the value they have helped create, while the company remains private and focused on long-term growth.
That long-term strategy involves expanding beyond expressive video avatars. Synthesia is now embracing the AI agents trend. It is developing AI agents that will let employees interact with company knowledge in a more intuitive way. This includes asking questions, exploring scenarios through role-play, and receiving tailored explanations.
Early pilots of this agent technology have received positive customer feedback, reporting higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer compared to traditional formats. As a result, Synthesia plans to make AI agents a core strategic focus alongside further improvements to its existing platform.
The company sees a convergence of a technology shift, with AI agents becoming more capable, and a market shift where upskilling and internal knowledge sharing have become board-level priorities. Co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli highlighted this unique opportunity for their platform to address enterprise struggles in keeping workforces adequately trained amid rapid change.
Riparbelli, together with co-founder and COO Steffen Tjerrild, initiated the secondary sale so employees could share in the success of the unicorn company. Founded in 2017, Synthesia now has over 500 team members. Its headquarters is a 20,000-square-foot space in London, with additional offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, New York City, and Zurich.
While such a coordinated secondary sale is unusual for a British startup, Synthesia’s head of corporate affairs, Alexandru Voica, suggested it may become more common. He predicted that as private companies stay private longer, this type of structured, cross-border employee liquidity could increase, with other companies likely following a similar path.