Indian AI Video Startup Rephrase.ai Announces Acquisition by Adobe

Adobe Systems, a global leader in digital media solutions, is expanding its generative AI capabilities with the reported acquisition of Bengaluru-based startup Rephrase.ai.

Rephrase.ai—co-founded by Shivam Mangla, Ashray Malhotra, and Nisheeth Lahoti, graduates of IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee—simplifies video production, transforming text into professional-looking videos, and garnered attention in the rapidly growing text-to-video AI generation space.

The acquisition, announced by Mangla but not publicly confirmed by Adobe, would align with its ongoing investment in generative AI, evidenced by the recent launch of Adobe Firefly and enhanced AI features in Photoshop. Adobe did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Mangla, CEO of Rephrase.ai, expressed his enthusiasm on social media, highlighting the journey and achievements of his team.

“Rephrase.ai is getting acquired by a pioneering creative tech company, ushering us into the new era of Generative AI,” Mangla wrote, explaining how the Techstars incubator program, key partnerships, celebrity collaborations, and  a successful expansion into the U.S. market fueled the startup’s journey.

“Thanks to 50k+ users who placed their trust in Rephrase products over the years, and we’ll remember the trust and love you put in while working with us,” he continued. “As we begin this new chapter in a larger org, the possibilities are endless.”

Rising tide of text-to-video AI

The text-to-video AI generation sector has grown substantially, with companies like Meta releasing Emu Video and RunwayML leading the space with its coherence capabilities. Additionally, Pika Labs and Stability AI have introduced popular video generation models, with the latter recently unveiling Stable Video Diffusion, an open-source alternative capable of generating high-quality videos in higher resolution.

Stable Video Diffusion offers two models, SVD and SVD-XT, which support video generation at rates ranging from three to 30 frames per second. This development, reported by Decrypt earlier today, adds to the dynamic landscape of AI-driven video generation.

Adobe’s reported acquisition of Rephrase.ai is another step forward in its business model. The multimedia software giant had already shared a tool that uses AI to “inpaint” videos and edit their appearance. However, video generation from scratch is more difficult because the AI model has no reference to work with (pixel space) and everything happens algorithmically (in the latent space).

This acquisition comes as India’s generative AI startup ecosystem gains momentum. According to Inc42’s 2023 report on the ‘Generative AI Startup Landscape,’ Indian startups in this domain have raised over $440 million since 2019. Rephrase.ai’s success story, including $13.9 million in total funding and a significant round led by Red Ventures, positions Adobe well in this burgeoning market.

As Adobe integrates Rephrase.ai’s technology with its Creative Cloud, including Premier Pro and After Effects, the potential for groundbreaking AI-powered video content tools becomes increasingly tangible.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.