KOLKATA, April 10: AI-driven digital experiences startup Ikonz, backed by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan as a strategic investor, on Thursday said it is targeting a revenue of USD 50 million over the next three years and plans to raise USD 20-25 million in Series A funding to support its growth ambitions.
The Hyderabad-based four-year-old company, which pegs its valuation at Rs 800-Rs 900 crore, is building a portfolio of exclusive digital intellectual property (IP) rights of celebrities to create interactive ‘digital twins’ AI-powered avatars that can participate in brand campaigns without requiring fresh shoots.
“We will grow exponentially from here. Amitabh Bachchan is one of our strategic investors and partners in this company. We are now finalising a partnership with a global talent agency that controls over 60 per cent of celebrities across entertainment and sports,” Ikonz founder and CEO Abinav Varma Kalidindi told PTI.
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“We will be raising USD 20-25 million in the next few months to fuel our growth. With our expanding celebrity pool and content capabilities, we are confident of making a major impact in the multi-billion-dollar digital market. Achieving a revenue target of USD 50 million over the next three years seems quite realistic,” Kalidindi said.
Kalidindi said he will continue to retain the largest controlling stake in Ikonz even after the Series A dilution and the induction of the global talent management company as a strategic investor.
Ikonz has already started mapping celebrity personas using proprietary content to create hyper-realistic digital avatars powered by generative AI, enabling brands to deploy these virtual figures across multilingual and multi-platform campaigns with scripted guardrails to protect the celebrity’s public image.
“By combining AI, holography and extended reality, our avatars can appear in multiple geographies, interact in local languages, and endorse brands 24×7 without the celebrity being physically present,” Kalidindi said.
The company on Thursday unveiled the AI digital avatar of cricket legend Sourav Ganguly on its proprietary Holographic Extended Reality (HXR) device at an event in Kolkata.
The avatar, designed for use in various campaigns, joins the earlier launch of Amitabh Bachchan’s digital twin for IDFC First Bank.
The HXR platform combines motion-capture, neural synthesis and real-time interaction to deliver immersive experiences in retail, banking, education and entertainment.
The company said the avatars will be available for a wide range of applications including interactive fan engagements, brand endorsements, podcasts, hologram experiences, metaverse activations, sports coaching, and educational content.
“With our growing pool of celebrity IPs and cutting-edge tech stack, we are uniquely positioned to tap into the multi-billion-dollar global digital marketing, automation and influence economy,” Kalidindi said, adding that the upcoming fundraiser would help accelerate expansion and content partnerships.
Ikonz counts venture capital firm Village Global, backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, among its early investors. (PTI)
