Hollywood-backed AI studio Collage launches with seed round led by Black Bear, Jimei
What's the deal? Collage, Inc.Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an AI production management company, has launched in Los Angeles with a seed round led by Black Bear PicturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and China's Jimei Pictures, which is also a co-founder. The round was reported by Variety and followed by Deadline .
What's the endgame? Collage connects Hollywood's industrial production system with frontier AI creative studios, aiming to plug top AI output into the film industry's delivery pipeline. Its backers span production, distribution, talent agencies, and capital, with direct access to studios, streamers, rights holders, and unions.
The company was founded by Dante DeSario, a former agent at UTADealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s independent film group, and Michael Lambert, previously at Twentieth Century Fox, HBO, and Viacom. Collage has signed an initial group of AI studios — including Secret LevelDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Obsidian, AsteriaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Matriarch, LIPSTICK, Native Foreign, and DEFECT — working across animation, advertising, real-time 3D, and visual effects.
Proof points: Secret Level produced Coca-Cola's global Christmas ad two years running; Asteria's film projects screened at Toronto and Tribeca; Native Foreign's AI animated feature drew OpenAI backing and opened international sales at Cannes. Their clients already include Universal Pictures, Amazon Studios, Hermès, Gucci, Google, and Nvidia.
The China angle: Alongside the round, Jimei Pictures launched Shanghai-based MARK INK, a controlled subsidiary focused on AIGC content production. It will tap Chinese AI visual models and compute, pairing them with engineered production agents to cover development, production, and delivery at scale.
Why the expansion? MARK INK is designed to work with Collage's international network, matching global demand with domestic supply. One stated goal is breaking the channel and resource barriers that have kept Chinese creators out of international projects and global brand work.
Why now? AI is shifting from a single-step tool to a method spanning the whole creative process. Jimei, founded in 2008, has worked in international production for nearly two decades — from early investment in EuropaCorpDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to a 2019 move into AI visual generation.
The signal: The dual setup — Collage in Hollywood, MARK INK in Shanghai — points to AI filmmaking moving from experiment to commercial delivery, and to a cross-border model linking US studios with Chinese AI talent.
Read more: sohu.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
