Runway is expanding its ambitions beyond AI video generation with a $10 million venture fund and new Builders program for early-stage startups. The company, known for its AI video tools used in film and marketing, is now investing in companies building across AI, media, and world simulation. The fund will write checks up to $500,000 for pre-seed and seed-stage startups.

This move comes as Runway pushes into what it calls "video intelligence" with its general world models launched last December. The company has quietly backed companies like LanceDB and Tamarind Bio over the past year and a half. "We think that through video, we're going to get to video intelligence, and it's going to open a wider set of use cases in different industries," said co-founder Alejandro Matamala-Ortiz.

Runway joins other AI companies like OpenAI and Perplexity in creating venture arms. The Builders program offers 500,000 API credits and access to Characters, Runway's real-time video agent API. Early participants include Cartesia and MSCHF, using the technology for AI customer support and interactive brand characters. "We do really believe that there's a new kind of internet that's going to be more personalized, more immersive, and in real-time," Matamala-Ortiz said.