An AI model which is better and faster than DALL·E & Midjourney
Women in male dominated field
In a world where people are obsessed with AI art such as the infamous Ghibli Art where people were using chatGPT for creating Ghibi studio’s art. A lowkey model Red Panda AI model named after one of the cutest animals alive just pulled a quiet power move. Introducing Recraft’s stealth-mode image generator, codenamed as “red_panda”. Which outperformed DALL·E and Midjourney on a leading benchmark. Unlike the name red_panda isn’t so cute when it comes to funding and performance. With $30 million in fresh funding, it’s stepping into the spotlight with claws out and branding on point.
Codename “red_panda” but why?
Nickname or codename red_panda earned its name because early users kept generating images of the cute mammal. Because people can’t resist cute mammal. Especially when it comes to pandas. The Red Panda AI model caught spotlight when large number of people kept on generating cute mammals images using red_panda rather than DALL·E and Midjourney.
Recraft and red_panda’s founder, you might ask?
Not many know but the founder and CEO of Recraft is an Ex-Russian model “Anna Veronika Dorogush” who also has a degree in math and computer science from Russia’s top university. Shocking, right?
According to her, Recraft builds its own models from scratch and competes with other image generators like Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Stable Diffusion, and Black Forest Labs. But Recraft’s major focus is at generating AI images for brands. Which allows them to place logos exactly where needed without doing too much work, or easily generating new marketing materials like brochures and posters that comply with existing branding guidelines.
A Solo Female Founder
Recraft’s story isn’t just about red_panda’s stellar AI performance; it’s also about Anna Veronika Dorogush. A female founder in the male-dominated world of AI. Dorogush, who has a math and computer science degree from one of Russia’s top universities. She didn’t follow the conventional startup path. Before diving into machine learning and AI, she was a professional model. But it was her stints at tech giants like Yandex (Russia’s answer to Google), Google, and Microsoft that sharpened her focus on machine learning.
What’s next?
The San Francisco-based startup captured both industry attention and substantial funding. With the latest $30 million funding secured in Series B funding led by Accel, with participation from Khosla Ventures and Madrona. This investment follows their $12 million Series A round led by Khosla in 2024. Marking significant confidence in their approach as they surpass $5 million in annual recurring revenue and amass 4 million users. Dorogush will refine red_panda from what it’s now to an even better version in the future.
