AI avatar generation company Lemon Slice recently announced it has raised $10.5 million in seed funding, with investors including Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, as well as executives from established companies and the music group The Chainsmokers. The company aims to add a video layer to AI chatbots, and with its latest diffusion model, Lemon Slice-2, it can generate dynamic digital avatars from a single image.

Lemon Slice-2 is a model with 20 billion parameters that can stream video at 20 frames per second on a single GPU. Through APIs and embeddable widgets, businesses can easily integrate this technology into their own platforms, allowing users to modify the background, style, and appearance of their avatars at any time. In addition to human avatars, Lemon Slice focuses on generating different non-human characters to meet various needs. Furthermore, Lemon Slice has adopted ElevenLabs' technology to provide voice for these avatars.

The company's founder, Lina Colucci, said that as early as the initial stages of generative AI, she and her co-founders began exploring video models, realizing that video would become key to interactive experiences. She pointed out that current avatar solutions often fail to meet user expectations, lacking realism and interactivity, which affects the user experience.

Lemon Slice plans to apply its technology in areas such as education, language learning, e-commerce, and corporate training. To ensure the safety of the technology, the company stated that it has implemented protective measures against unauthorized face or voice cloning and uses large language models for content moderation.

Facing intense competition from companies like D-ID, HeyGen, and Synthesia, Lemon Slice aims to establish itself in the digital avatar generation industry through its strong technical background and general-purpose diffusion model. Ilya Sukhar, a partner at Matrix, believes that Lemon Slice's team not only has strong technical capabilities but can also widely apply this technology in scenarios such as video-based teaching.

Currently, Lemon Slice has eight employees, and the company plans to use the funds to hire engineers and marketing personnel, as well as pay for the computational costs required for model training.

Key points:   

🌟 Lemon Slice has raised $10.5 million in funding and is dedicated to videoizing AI chatbots.  

🎨 The new Lemon Slice-2 model can generate dynamic digital avatars from a single image, supporting multiple character styles.  

🔒 The company has taken measures to prevent face or voice cloning, and applies the technology in fields such as education and corporate training.