Have you ever wished to be in two places at once? With Hour One, a Tel Aviv and NYC-based artificial intelligence startup, you might be able to soon. Through its AI technology, Hour One can transform users into virtual, life-like characters that can work in a professional setting instead of the user themselves.
On Monday, the startup raked in $20 million in a Series A funding round led by VC giant Insight Partners. This brings Hour One’s total funding raised to date to $25 million, according to a company representative. The fresh capital will go toward enhancing its virtual twin platform and tripling its current 50-person team.
In order to develop a virtual twin, Hour One first films users to capture their likeness. Then, through its AI technology, a virtual twin is generated and can step in for the human user in virtual meetings.
“The ability to easily turn any person into a virtual character that can then be activated using just text, will completely transform the way businesses and their customers engage each other,” Oren Aharon, Hour One CEO and founder, said in a statement. “Very soon, any person will be able to have a virtual twin for professional use that can deliver content on their behalf, speak in any language and scale their productivity in ways previously unimaginable.”
According to Hour One, this model can be deployed in roles such as a receptionist, salesperson, HR representative or language teacher. When the virtual twin steps in, the human user can then gain passive income for the work the virtual twin does for them.
Hour One has worked with big-name companies such as NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation to “bring personalization at scale to its core intellectual property,” according to a company statement.
