AI-powered video creation and editing app Captions has rebranded to Mirage, signaling its expansion beyond creator tools to become an AI research lab. The rebranding unifies the company’s offerings under one umbrella, bringing together the creator-focused AI video platform and the recently launched Mirage Studio for brands and ad production.

The company focuses on developing multimodal foundational models specifically for short-form video content on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

“The way we see it, the real race for AI video hasn’t begun. Our new identity, Mirage, reflects our expanded vision and commitment to redefining the video category, starting with short-form video, through frontier AI research and models,” CEO Gaurav Misra told TechCrunch.

According to Bloomberg, Mirage has secured more than $100 million in venture capital to date at a $500 million valuation. In July 2024, the company announced a $60 million Series C funding round led by Index Ventures, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, and actor Jared Leto.

The platform currently serves over 10 million global users who produce approximately 3.5 million videos monthly.

Product Offerings and Technology

Mirage Studio, launched in June, enables brands to create short advertisements without human talent or large budgets. Users can generate video content by submitting an audio file, with AI-generated backgrounds and custom avatars. The service costs $399 per month for 8,000 credits, with new users receiving 50% off the first month.

The company combines proprietary AI models with third-party technologies from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Eleven Labs Inc. It allows users to generate videos featuring AI avatars speaking from typed text or AI-generated scripts, with language translation capabilities that preserve the original voice.

In January 2025, while rival app CapCut was experiencing regulatory scrutiny, Mirage (then Captions) shifted to a freemium model, offering basic video editing capabilities, subtitle addition tools, and teleprompter functionality for free, while keeping advanced features exclusive to paid subscribers.