Former Ramp Engineers Secure $20M for New Platform Melius After Product Redesign

Melius, an innovative AI platform focused on creating advertising campaigns, images, and videos, has successfully secured $25 million in funding. This includes a $20 million Series A round led by CRV and a $5 million seed round supported by General Catalyst, announced on Tuesday.

Despite claiming to achieve over $1 million in annualized revenue just two months after emerging from stealth mode in July, Melius co-founder Joowon Kim acknowledged that their initial launch did not perform as expected.

Founded in New York more than a year ago, Kim and his fellow co-founders, Young Kim and Arnav Ramu, previously collaborated as engineers at Ramp, a corporate finance software company. Upon launching their original concept, they quickly realized that it lacked the potential they had hoped for, as Kim recounted in an interview with TechCrunch.

Initially intended to assist marketers in managing and optimizing ad spend, the team pivoted towards a more expansive vision: developing tools to create the actual assets and campaigns themselves. “We scrapped the entire codebase; we burned all of it,” Kim remarked, highlighting their commitment to a new direction.

Less than a year after its initial debut, Melius introduced a platform it refers to as an “agents lab for creative work.” This shift aligns with a growing trend among startups that enable advertising agencies, marketers, and brands to harness AI for creative production. Notable competitors in this space include Higgsfield, recently valued at $5.4 billion, as well as emerging startups like Krea and Flora AI.

However, Kim remains unfazed by the competition. He recognizes the rapid growth of Higgsfield, which has surpassed $700 million in annual revenue, but believes the vast market can accommodate multiple entrants. “There are a lot of players, which is pretty exciting,” he stated, emphasizing the potential for customer acquisition and demand within the industry.

Reflecting on why former Ramp engineers ventured into the ad-generation space, Kim, who identifies as a social media influencer, shared his lifelong passion for creating short videos. His aspirations of becoming a famous YouTuber date back to his childhood, although his early attempts at vlogging did not achieve notable success.

“I tried my best to make vlogs,” he recalled. “My dad was great at using FinalCut Pro, but I wasn’t.” Nonetheless, his enduring fascination with digital content creation led him to build Melius—an accessible platform designed to empower users, including experienced creative directors, to bring their ideas to life through simple language.