Backed by True Ventures, GV (Google Ventures), and Y Combinator, Founded by Award-Winning Filmmaker Zoey Zhang and Instagram Stories Founding Engineer Ray Wang

SAN FRANCISCO: Flick (flick.art), an AI-native filmmaking platform founded by award-winning filmmaker Zoey Zhang and founding Instagram engineer Ray Wang, today announced it has raised $6 million in a seed round from True Ventures, GV (Google Ventures), Y Combinator, Lightspeed, Formosa Capital, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital, and N1 in addition to angel investors.

Flick was built around a simple belief: AI should enhance filmmaking, not replace it. Instead of another one-click video generator, Flick gives filmmakers cinematic control through an AI-native creative workflow designed for storytelling, iteration, and artistic direction.

Flick will use the seed funding to accelerate product development, expand its core creative tooling for cinematic control, and grow the company’s community of filmmakers. The team is also launching Flick Filmmaker Residency, debuting with 10+ short AI-native films created by emerging filmmakers and showcased at Cinequest Film Festival, MIT, and Omni AI film festival. Each cohort is led by Co-founder Zhang, providing filmmakers with access to industry resources, mentorship, and meaningful connections throughout the creative process. Through this program, Flick empowers talented filmmakers, and ultimately helps cultivate the next Kubrick in the age of AI.

Prior to starting Flick, Wang helped build the first version of Instagram Stories in 2016, scaling the product to over 400 million daily active users. Co-founder Zhang began making films in 2013 through traditional filmmaking before exploring AI filmmaking in 2022. In February 2025, she participated in MIT AI Film Hack, where she created her first AI short film and won Best Visual Award. Since then, her AI films have been nominated and awarded at more than 30 international film festivals.

When Wang collaborated on Zhang’s second AI film in April 2025, the two quickly found themselves discussing how to combine large-scale product engineering with deep creative domain expertise to reimagine how filmmakers create. As the two experimented with existing AI video tools and custom pipelines, they frequently encountered the same limitations: most tools were either too technical for creators or too constrained to support real directing.

“At Flick, creators don’t lose their authentic voice as AI scales,” Zhang said. “We’re building a bridge so filmmakers won’t think about ‘prompting models’ at all - they’ll just direct, compose, and feel, and the tools will disappear into their creative flow.”

“Ray and Zoey represent the perfect combination of world-class technical execution and deep creative understanding. They’re not just building AI tools – they’re empowering a new generation of filmmakers to focus on what matters most: storytelling and artistic expression. Their craft-first approach and genuine commitment to the creative community makes them the ideal team to define this emerging category of AI-native filmmaking.” - Mike Montano, Partner at True Venture.

“The majority of generative video is unrefined, prioritizing volume over substance. Flick is part of an entirely new category, built for the serious filmmakers who want to use AI, not as a shortcut, but as a tool to enhance their creativity. The next Tarantino, the next Spielberg, the next Scorsese – I believe they’re going to get their start on a platform like Flick.” - Sangeen Zeb, General Partner at GV.

About Flick

Founded by Zoey Zhang and Ray Wang, Flick is an AI-native filmmaking platform built for creators who care about aesthetics, control, and creative flexibility. The product enables filmmakers to direct AI-generated films through non-linear workflows, cinematic controls, and iterative creative tools - bridging powerful generative models with real-world filmmaking. Flick also operates Flick Filmmaker Residency, an initiative to cultivate the next generation of AI-native filmmakers.

Fonte: Business Wire