Runway ML Achieves Over $3 Billion Valuation Despite Early Investor Skepticism Towards Non-Traditional Backgrounds

New York, NY – Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of generative AI leader Runway ML, recently reflected on the company's early days, revealing an investor passed on funding due to the founders' lack of Stanford or PhD credentials, favoring a competitor with a more conventional academic network. Valenzuela, who along with co-founders Anastasis Germanidis and Alejandro Matamala, attended art school at NYU Tisch, highlighted this anecdote in a social media post, contrasting the power of "where you move" (network) with "what you do" (merit). This reflection comes as Runway ML has secured over $3 billion in valuation, demonstrating significant market success.

"Someone recently told me an early investor passed on Runway because we didn’t go to stanford or have phds (we went to art school at nyu) and decided instead to invest in a competitor with phd people that were friends of friends," Valenzuela stated in his tweet.

Runway ML, founded in 2018, has emerged as a prominent force in artificial intelligence, specializing in generative AI for video, images, and multimedia content. The company's products, including Gen-1, Gen-2, Gen-3 Alpha, and the recently released Gen-4, are widely used in film, music videos, and television, notably in productions like "Everything Everywhere All At Once." Despite initial hurdles, the company has attracted substantial investment, including a $141 million Series C extension in June 2023 at a $1.5 billion valuation from Google, Nvidia, and Salesforce, followed by a $308 million Series D round led by General Atlantic in April 2025, pushing its valuation past $3 billion.

The incident shared by Valenzuela underscores a persistent challenge for founders from non-traditional backgrounds in the startup ecosystem. Venture capital, historically reliant on warm introductions and established networks, often favors individuals from elite universities or well-known tech companies. This "pattern matching" can inadvertently create barriers for diverse entrepreneurs, even those with groundbreaking ideas.

Valenzuela articulated this dynamic, noting, "Where you move is a huge advantage. Selling a product to a company is easier if the ceo is your friend or someone your family knows. Attracting talent or raising money is simpler when you rely on your school network and the network of companies you’ve worked at. Warm introductions help a ton."

However, Runway ML's trajectory exemplifies the growing recognition that merit and innovation can ultimately overcome initial networking disadvantages. The company's success, built on its pioneering work in generative video AI, demonstrates that "what you do" can indeed compound differently, building its own momentum. This narrative contributes to a broader industry conversation about fostering a more inclusive and meritocratic investment landscape, where the quality of a product and vision are prioritized over traditional affiliations.