$15M in funding led by Export Development Canada to accelerate innovation and adoption of sales communications platform used by HubSpot, Microsoft, LinkedIn and S&P Global

Video messaging leader Vidyard today announced the introduction of the industry’s first hyper-realistic AI Avatars – that look and sound just like the user – to the Vidyard Messages platform. Top global sales and marketing organizations, including HubSpot, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and S&P Global, use the platform to increase effectiveness and scale outreach when communicating with customers and prospects. AI Avatars help sales organizations scale all stages of the sales cycle and enable marketers to create high-quality, personalized videos while minimizing the time spent recording and editing. See it in action here.

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Vidyard's industry-first, hyper-realistic, personalized AI avatars scale sales and marketing video communications. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“AI Avatars will be a game-changer for our sales team, who understand how much more effective video is than text when engaging customers and prospects,” said Matt Green, CRO of Sales Assembly. “Removing the need to sit and record each personalized message, over and over, will not only give our team more time to focus on high-impact sales activities but also gives us the confidence that our message is being delivered and received accurately, consistently and compellingly.”

The use of personalized video in business communications has become increasingly important to sales and marketing organizations, as well as buyers, as it leads to higher click-through rates and more meaningful interactions with customers and prospects. Vidyard research shows that 51% of buyers indicate that they are more likely to make a purchase after watching a personalized video and that personalized videos generate 16 times more engagement than static content. A recent report¹ from Gartner Research predicted that, “By 2025, AI avatars leveraging text-to-video using generative AI technology will support 70% of digital and marketing communications, up from less than 5% in 2022.”

Vidyard also announced that it has secured $15M in funding led by Export Development Canada (EDC) with participation from BMO Capital Partners, in addition to existing investors Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and iNovia Capital. The funding will accelerate Vidyard's innovation and adoption, propelling users into the AI era. This brings Vidyard’s total funding to date to $90.7M.

“Vidyard is changing the game for sales and marketing professionals and how they interact with their customers,” said Guillermo Freire, Senior Vice-President, Mid-Market Group, EDC. “With an equity investment from EDC, Vidyard is creating new opportunities for today’s businesses, enhancing human connections, and providing customers with smart and creative AI-enabled digital solutions.”

“Vidyard’s leadership in this market is impressive, and we believe the application of AI Avatars to the hard problem of high-touch communications at scale for sales and marketing will move it even further ahead,” said Byron Deeter, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners. “There has never been a better time to bring this capability to market, and there is no team better suited to introduce it than the one that Mike and Devon have assembled. We are very pleased to continue to work with Vidyard to support and help guide it through this next phase of its growth.”

Users of Vidyard AI Avatars need only provide a two-minute sample video to create their avatars, upload a script – whenever they want and wherever they are – and watch the AI Avatar of themselves deliver high-quality, error-free videos at scale. Avatars can be re-used to deliver multiple messages once they have been created. Combining AI Avatars with Vidyard Templates for sales and marketing ensures consistency and accuracy of messaging delivery, even across globally distributed teams. Users benefit from the full suite of Vidyard video communication features, including video view notifications, advanced analytics, and calls-to-action, in addition to integrations with all of the top CRM and sales platforms. Vidyard AI Avatars support video creation using scripts in 29 languages.

“Vidyard’s AI Avatars will address a lot of critical pain points for HubSpot users when it comes to making sales videos, including the stage fright associated with recording, the length of time it takes to get their videos ‘just right,’ the difficulty of finding the right place and time to record, and the fact that creating videos is not always a top priority,” said Scott Brinker, VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. “This will completely change how they approach message development and delivery, along with overall time management, and make it extremely easy for sales teams and marketers to get their messages out in a very personal way.”

“Vidyard AI Avatars are the answer to every sales and marketing professional’s dream – personalization at scale – which has, as yet, been almost completely unrealized,” said Jonathan Lister, Vidyard COO. “By scaling their touchpoints to their customers and prospects, we are significantly lowering the barrier to the use of the high-touch communications tools they need to get the results that power their, and their organizations’, success. It also benefits buyers, who get faster communication and responses from sellers and enjoy a more engaged and fruitful sales process overall. The feedback from recipients in our pre-launch trials has been very positive, with their saying messages delivered by AI Avatars are engaging and effective."

Vidyard AI Avatars are available immediately as an addition to the platform’s Business Plan.

About Vidyard

Vidyard is the leading provider of AI-powered video messaging, video hosting, sales prospecting, and buyer engagement solutions for sales professionals and go-to-market teams. More than 250,000 companies use Vidyard to connect with more prospects, tell better stories, and create exceptional buyer experiences. From individual sales reps to global sales and marketing teams, Vidyard enables any business professional to use online video content, AI-powered video messaging, tailored digital sales rooms, and its autonomous sales assistant to transform the way they engage buyers and exchange value with customers. Learn more about Vidyard and sign up for free at www.vidyard.com, or visit Vidyard on LinkedIn and @vidyard on X.

¹ Gartner Research – Emerging Tech: Top Use Cases for Generative AI 31 July 2023 - ID G00779868

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