According to Decrypt, Adobe Systems is said to have acquired Bengaluru-based startup Rephrase.ai, enhancing its generative AI capabilities. Rephrase.ai, co-founded by IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee graduates Shivam Mangla, Ashray Malhotra, and Nisheeth Lahoti, simplifies video production by converting text into professional-looking videos. The acquisition, announced by Mangla but not publicly confirmed by Adobe, aligns with Adobe's ongoing investment in generative AI, as demonstrated by the recent launch of Adobe Firefly and enhanced AI features in Photoshop.
The text-to-video AI generation sector has grown significantly, with companies like Meta, RunwayML, Pika Labs, and Stability AI introducing popular video generation models. Adobe's reported acquisition of Rephrase.ai is another step forward in its business model, as the multimedia software giant had already shared a tool that uses AI to 'inpaint' videos and edit their appearance. The acquisition comes as India's generative AI startup ecosystem gains momentum, with Indian startups in this domain raising over $440 million since 2019, according to Inc42's 2023 report on the 'Generative AI Startup Landscape'. As Adobe integrates Rephrase.ai's technology with its Creative Cloud, including Premier Pro and After Effects, the potential for groundbreaking AI-powered video content tools becomes increasingly tangible.