Sylvester Stallone, the renowned actor, is among the newest investors in Largo.ai, an AI-driven analytics platform for the film, TV, and advertising industries. The company recently secured $7.5 million in its Series A financing round, which was co-led by Los Angeles-based TI Capital and Switzerland and Los Angeles-based QBIT Capital. Other notable participants in the funding round include Boston’s Atreides Management, former Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard Thomas Tippl, and Swiss private equity firm DAA Capital.
Largo.ai plans to use the investment to support its growth plans and enhance its core business areas. The company currently collaborates with more than 600 companies in the film and TV industry, including several major Hollywood studios and large agencies. The firm is set to launch its Version 3 to the market, which will offer actionable recommendations alongside existing tools and generate early creative concepts that mimic final production stages.
Largo.ai is also expanding its Brands Suite, developed for advertising agencies to test campaigns, ideas, and products, and expedite the creative process by enabling rapid iterations.
Stallone joins Largo.ai funding round
The Simulated Focus Group, an AI version of traditional focus groups and market research tests, is central to this expansion, allowing users to predict responses to their ideas, from emotional reactions to purchasing interest.
“When we set out on this journey in 2020 for Largo.ai, the role of AI in filmmaking was confined to the streaming giants,” said Largo.ai CEO and Co-Founder Sami Arpa. “Our mission was to level the playing field for the rest of the industry, which has stayed more traditional to date.”
Arpa added, “Over the last two years, as technologies like ChatGPT have become a part of everyday life, the fear of AI has diminished, and its adoption curve is dramatically changing. People have woken up to the limitless potential of using AI as an assistance tool.
It’s about creating better content, faster, easier, and with less risk.”
Launched in 2020 in collaboration with Swiss university Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Largo.ai is headquartered at the EPFL Innovation Park in Lausanne. The company has offices in Los Angeles, London, and Istanbul, and has analyzed more than 400,000 films and TV series, 950,000 talents, 59,000 scripts, and more than 200,000 ads to train its AI programs. Largo.ai has been recognized with several awards, including the Best New Start-Up award at the San Sebastian Film Festival and being named one of the Horizon 2020 Top Start-Ups for Berlinale as well as one of the Top 100 Swiss Start-Up Awards.
The company will be featured at this year’s European Film Market, where it will host an event dubbed “Pitch Perfect: Producers Showcase Projects Analysed By AI” on February 15, 2025, at the Documentation Centre in Berlin.
Cameron is a highly regarded contributor in the rapidly evolving fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. His articles delve into the theoretical underpinnings of AI, the practical applications of machine learning across industries, ethical considerations of autonomous systems, and the societal impacts of these disruptive technologies.
