Runway AI Raises $315Mn at $5.3Bn Valuation for World Models

NEW YORK: AI video generation startup Runway secured $315 million in Series E funding at a $5.3 billion valuation, nearly doubling its worth in less than 10 months, the company announced Tuesday.

General Atlantic led the round with participation from Nvidia, Adobe Ventures, AMD Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research, AllianceBernstein, Mirae Asset, Emphatic Capital, Felicis, and Premji Invest. Total funding now reaches $860 million since 2018 inception.

The fresh capital will pre-train next-generation “world models”, AI systems constructing internal environment representations to plan future events. Runway released its first world model in December and views the technology as central to tackling challenges in medicine, climate, energy, and robotics beyond current entertainment applications.

CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela described world models as “the most transformative technology of our time.” The company recently launched Gen-4.5, featuring high-definition video creation, native audio, multi-shot generation, and advanced editing capabilities.

Runway previously raised $308 million in April 2025 at $3.3 billion valuation. The latest round reflects robust investor interest in video AI startups, which raised $3.08 billion globally in 2025, up 94.6% from $1.58 billion in 2024.

The New York-based company has 140 employees and plans hiring across research, engineering, and go-to-market functions. Runway’s models serve tens of millions of users including film studios, creative teams, and global brands.

The company is expanding partnerships with CoreWeave for compute infrastructure and entering gaming, robotics, and autonomous vehicle sectors.