Former Ramp Engineers Raise $20 Million for Melius Platform After Their First Product Failed

The journey of the startup Melius carries an important lesson for every entrepreneur: success may come after acknowledging failure and starting from scratch. The company, which specializes in generating advertising campaigns, images, and videos using artificial intelligence, announced that it raised a total of $25 million in funding, after a journey that began with a product its founding team completely abandoned.

Funding Round Details

The funding the company received is spread across two rounds; the first is a Series A round worth $20 million led by CRV, and the second is a seed round worth $5 million led by General Catalyst. Although the company only emerged from stealth mode in July, it confirms that it surpassed the $1 million annual revenue threshold within just two months of its public launch.

A Stumbling Start and a Completely Scrapped Product

The New York–based company was founded more than a year ago by three engineers who had worked together at the fintech software company Ramp: Joon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu. Their first idea revolved around building an AI-powered marketing performance management tool that would help marketers manage and optimize their ad spend.

But after more than six months of working on the product, the founders realized that their original idea «did not have what it takes to last,» as one of them put it. Instead of pressing ahead down a dead-end path, they made the bold decision to erase everything they had accomplished and start anew.

One of the founders describes that moment by saying they «erased the entire codebase and burned it to the ground.» The team then set out to build a completely different product, and about a year after their first launch, unveiled a platform they describe as an «AI agent lab for creative work.»

A Crowded but Promising Market

Melius is not alone in this field, as it competes with a number of companies that help advertising agencies and brands produce their creative content through artificial intelligence. Among the most prominent of these competitors are:

• Higgsfield: A fast-growing company that reached a market valuation of $5.4 billion in August, with annual revenues exceeding $700 million.
• Krea: A small startup operating in the same space.
• Flora AI: Another competitor seeking to capture market share.

One of the Melius founders acknowledges that his most prominent competitor is «growing at an insane pace,» but he believes the market is large enough to accommodate multiple players. He considers the presence of so many companies a positive indicator reflecting the scale of existing demand and the opportunities to win new customers.

An Old Passion Turned into a Product

The transition of engineers from a financial background into the world of advertising content production may seem surprising, but in the case of one of the founders, it goes back to a long-held passion. He describes himself as a content creator on social media platforms, and recounts that he was fascinated with making short videos since elementary school, dreaming one day of becoming a YouTube star.

He recalls his early attempts at filming video blogs, noting that his father was skilled at using professional editing software while he was not. And although those attempts did not achieve the hoped-for success, his passion for creating digital content remained present.

Today, he sees in Melius the embodiment of the tool he had always wished he owned; a platform that allows everyone, including seasoned creative directors, to turn their ideas into tangible reality using simple, direct language instead of complex technical skills.

Conclusion

The Melius experience shows that flexibility and the ability to abandon unproductive ideas can be more important than clinging to the first product. Instead of burning money on a path that leads nowhere, the team chose to redirect its expertise toward a greater opportunity, quickly reaping the rewards of this decision through growing revenues and remarkable investor confidence.

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