High Potential Startup #25: Hour One
Transformative 'Virtual Human' Technology; Starting with disrupting business communication
At the time of publication: Series A | Total funding raised: 25mn USD
*****
Watch this quick 1-minute video please.
The person speaking here is a virtual/synthetic characters developed by an AI startup called Hour One. He is like a digital clone (based on a real person) who can be made to speak in any language and any accent… with just a text input! All you have to do is input the audio script as text and what you get is the character narrating the script with highly realistic expressiveness! This professional looking video just takes a few minutes and literally takes almost no video production or editing skills.
Hour One is an AI startup based in Tel Aviv that develops virtual human characters who can be made to speak with realistic expressions in multiple voices, accents and languages with just a text input. They have 100+ virtual characters so far. Some of the characters below.
The go-to-market product of Hour One (that leverages this technology) is a video creation platform called ‘Reals by Hour One’. Using Reals, anyone can create fully produced professional quality videos in minutes and there is no need for video production or editing skills.
The steps to create your professional quality video on Reals are very simple:
Pick a character who you want to talk in the video
Pick the language, voice and accent
Add images from Unsplash integration stock photos or upload your own media files
Add any text that will appear visually in the video
Input as text the audio script that the character will speak
Choose the video layout
That is it! You can then add as many ‘scenes’ to the video as required.
This is how the Reals video creation workspace looks like.
Here is a 2-minute explainer video from the company.
The learning curve is immediate and is very simple. It took me just a few minutes to create a video with a few scenes.
I have written earlier about ‘commoditizing expertise’ - there are large market opportunities in simplifying and removing the skill barrier. Reals platform is an example of this - anyone without video skills can now create high quality videos astonishingly fast.
Videos help end customers and users to be more engaged. Businesses and Creators will find multiple large use cases for the Reals video platform - Product Tutorials, HR and Training videos, E-Learning, News, Explainer videos, E-commerce product description, News content, Real-estate tours, Corporate communication and so on.
Some example videos below:
The revenue model for Reals is subscription based.
Businesses can bring their own logo, brand and media assets easily to the platform
The platform also offers hosting and analytics on the videos created.
With Reals, Hour One has smartly identified a lucrative go-to-market opportunity. The company should experiment with smart distribution approaches - for example, a free student tier (for .edu email ids for example) can seed the platform to a big audience (and future power users) and can help it gain attention. The platform presents a big revenue opportunity and because it is highly scalable and self-serve, the margins are going to be very high.
I believe the potential of the underlying ‘virtual human’ technology far exceeds that of the Reals platform and Hour One can play a transformative role.
Imagine if everyone (real and fictional) can on demand have a virtual clone or a ‘digital twin’ that can represent them. You can be in a million virtual places without having to be there. Hour One has already expressed this as a key future milestone for them.
The CEO Oren Aharon says,
“Very soon, any person will be able to have a virtual twin for professional use that can deliver content on their behalf, speak in any language, and scale their productivity in ways previously unimaginable.”
There are two very large opportunities for the underlying Virtual Human technology apart from business content and communication:
Entertainment: Fans can in the future interact with virtual movie characters. Imagine a movie character like Captain Jack Sparrow wishing your friend on their birthday. These assets can be even more valuable if VR and Metaverse takes off. Creators can leverage this as a big monetization opportunity. Imagine your favorite influencer or celebrity appearing on your alarm and waking you up everyday. Gifting is another related opportunity. Cameo in partnership with DreamWorks leveraged Hour One’s technology to enable fans to interact with the ‘Boss Baby’ animation character.
Learning/Education: I believe this can be a big deal when it comes to Learning content. Imagine your child’s favorite Disney character teaching vocabulary or math! The engagement and motivation to learn just shoots up. Or imagine listening to security analysis courses taught by a ‘virtual Warren Buffett’ and in his iconic voice. There is lot of potential here. Interactive learning will become highly engaging.
I believe Hour One is a high potential startup with a transformative product that can impact large markets. Reals is just the first big product but a lot more exciting products/platforms are waiting to be unlocked for Hour One.