Exactly.ai secures $4m to help artists use AI to scale up their output

May, 2024 – Exactly AI, the personalised AI model and image generation platform which supports artists and visual creators to build and train their own generative AI models using personal artistic aesthetics. Accelerating the reproduction of designs at scale, while retaining legal ownership of their art.

• Exactly AI is handing back creative freedom to artists and visual creators who are tired of losing out on re-purposed IP
• $4m seed funding enables the company to expand the team, develop its technology and increase its outreach potential to artists globally
• 40,000 artists worldwide have already registered with Exactly AI since its launch

Exactly AI has raised $4m in seed funding from prominent investors including Cornerstone VC and InReach Ventures, alongside international angel investors. The investment was led by Speedinvest.

Exactly.ai was founded in 2022 by Tonia Samsonova, a former journalist who previously exited a Q&A platform, The Question, to the Russian search engine Yandex.

Tonia explains how it works:

“We enable artists, people who can draw, and illustrators to train their own AI on their artwork. They then get an algorithm that can generate images in their own style. This algorithm belongs to them and all the inferences belong to them.”

The idea is to let artists use Exactly.ai to scale their artwork and sell or license to customers such as media outlets or ad agencies. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global generative AI market is set to be worth $668 billion by 2030, and some portion of that very large pie will cater to this niche. Samsonova said the idea was born from an itch she herself wanted to scratch.

Tonia added:

“I was always on the client side and I wanted those images, but the best creators are always busy. So for clients, this is an ability to work with the best talent in the world.

clients care about the quality of the images, and want to get images for their brands from the top creators in the world,” she said. The founder said the startup’s main competitors include Upwork and Fiverr, which artists and illustrators sometimes use to scale up their output.“We make money because illustrators who have commercial practices can serve more demand. They pay a subscription fee to us, and they quadruple their income,” Samsonova said. The company is based on a combination of the foundational model offered by Picsart and the startup’s own algorithm, which is “able to understand your style and produce images,” she said.

Rodney Appiah, Managing Partner at Cornerstone VC, said:

“What really attracted us to Exactly was Tonia’s vision for a new and more sustainable way forward for AI that seeks to work in partnership with the creative sector rather than replace it. We are delighted to be part of the round and look forward to seeing the impact that personalised AI has on the sector.”

Julian Blessin, partner at Speedinvest which led the funding round, said:

“Exactly.ai represents a groundbreaking step forward for the creative arts sector… Tonia and her team have developed a platform that enables artists to embrace generative AI as a partner in their creative process.”

For more information visit Exactly AI.