From Ramp to Creative AI: Ex-Engineers Pivot Hard, Land $25M for Melius
Key takeaways
- Melius raised $25M ($20M Series A from CRV, $5M seed from General Catalyst) after scrapping original product.
- Three former Ramp engineers pivoted from ad-spend optimization to AI-powered creative asset generation in under a year.
- Startup claims $1M+ annualized revenue within two months of July launch; competes with Higgsfield and smaller AI creative tools.
Melius, an AI platform for generating ad campaigns and creative content, announced $25 million in funding on Tuesday: a $20 million Series A from CRV and $5 million seed led by General Catalyst. The New York startup claims over $1 million annualized revenue within two months of emerging from stealth in July.
Co-founders Joowon Kim, Young Kim, and Arnav Ramu met as engineers at Ramp, the corporate spending platform. Their initial product—an AI tool to help marketers optimize ad spend—didn't gain traction after six months of development. Rather than iterate, they made a radical choice: scrap the entire codebase and pivot entirely toward generative creative tools. The rebuilt Melius now positions itself as an "agents lab for creative work," targeting ad agencies and brands seeking to automate asset production.
The bigger picture
Melius enters a crowded space dominated by Higgsfield, valued at $5.4 billion with $700 million annualized revenue, plus smaller competitors like Krea and Flora AI. Kim's conviction that market size justifies multiple winners echoes typical founder optimism, but execution matters more than TAM theory. Watch whether Melius can differentiate on ease-of-use or speed-to-production as larger players with deeper resources multiply offerings.
We're covering Melius because the founding team's radical pivot—burning working code rather than battling feedback—reveals something real about startup discipline and capital allocation. It's also a reminder that even well-funded, well-connected founders can miss market signals the first time around. The creative AI space deserves scrutiny as valuations climb and competition accelerates.
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