What we learned at the Jasper AI live event: a mega 1.5 billion valuation

Dave Rogenmoser reveals “unicorn status” in series A fundraising round

I’ll be the first to admit: I had high expectations for this event. Especially as the release of Jasper Art back in August was relatively lowkey, the fanfare that preceded today’s online event (dubbed “Introducing The Next Evolution of Jasper”) had me envisioning game-changing breakthroughs.

I anticipated a demo of something we’d never seen before (like AI and VR integration, or Jasper Music). Were my expectations met? Yes and no.

I think they played their cards very close to the chest, while revealing a massive investment that can be used to further Jasper’s development.

Jasper Evolved into a Unicorn

First, the big news: Dave Rogenmoser, CEO and founder of Jasper, announced $125 million in Series A funding. And with that funding comes a valuation of $1.5 billion. That’s from funding from top companies such as Insight Partners, Coatue, Bessemer Venture Partners, IVP, Foundation Capital, Founders Circle Capital, HubSpot Ventures and additional firms.

This is obviously a huge deal for Jasper. Not just the money, but also because it cements their place as a “unicorn” company. For those not familiar with the term, a unicorn company is a startup that has achieved a billion-dollar valuation. This is a huge coup for Jasper, and will no doubt help them in their mission to become the go-to home base for AI content.

So, what’s new with Jasper AI?

Dave Rogenmoser discussed the three main product updates:

1. Making Jasper Art available for sale as a stand-alone tool

2. Introducing the first-ever Jasper Chrome Extension

3. Giving every customer 10,000 free credits (annual customers get 150k)

1. Making Jasper Art available as a stand-alone tool is a big deal. Until recently, Jasper AI was only available as part of the “suite” of tools. Now, anyone can buy just Jasper Art and use it for their content creation needs.

Admittedly we had a soft release of this subscription earlier in the month, with the offer to create unlimited images at only $20/mo. What’s new is the enhanced resolution: with the standard 512 being upscaled to 1024 and 2048. This is big enough that you can sell images as stock illustrations.

2. The Chrome extension will allow you to use Jasper’s features in email, social media, and content creation tools. This is a huge win for content creators, as it will allow them to quickly and easily create high-quality content without having to leave their preferred writing environment.

For example, it integrates now with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn posts.

Another new update is the ability to use Jasper’s “One-Shot” blog post feature in Google Docs. This was a much-requested feature, and I’m sure many content creators will be thrilled to have it. I’ve written about the One-Shot feature before and it’s a great way to quickly create high-quality posts:

3. Finally, Jasper is giving away 10,000 free credits to all customers (annual customers get a 150k bonus). This is a great way to get people started with the platform, and I’m sure many people will take advantage of it. You can sign up for Jasper below:

My 2 cents on today’s 1.5 billion announcement

These are all great updates that will no doubt be welcomed by the Jasper community. But I have to say, I was hoping for something a bit more… groundbreaking. Don’t get me wrong, these updates are all good. But based on how rapidly they’ve dropped features like Jasper Art, I wanted instant results, right now. I’d anticipated paradigms being disrupted left and right.

But here’s the thing: Jasper is playing the long game. They’re not interested in one-time “wins.” They want to build a platform that will be the go-to content creation tool for years. And I think they’re on the right track.

The $125 million in funding will no doubt be used to further develop the platform and add new features. The company is continuing to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, which will allow them to create even more powerful content creation tools. Dave reminded us that the funds they’ve raised go right into the tool we use, and that’s pretty cool.

So, while I didn’t get the mind-blowing demo I was hoping for today, I’m still very bullish on Jasper AI. They’re building a platform that has the proven potential to change the content creation landscape forever.

And I can't wait to see what they come up with next. What else is in store for Jasper? Dave Rogenmoser ended his talk with a few tantalizing hints.

Voice and Video to come?

Dave mentioned “video” and “audio” in his speech, but it was brief and I’m not sure many attendees noticed those two pivotal words. But I think video and audio are a big part of the future for Jasper. And I’m not just talking about transcribing video and audio files (although that would be amazing). I’m talking about using Jasper to create videos and audio files from scratch.

Additionally, the creation of AI video/animation is what I was hoping for, because the applications are endless. For example, you could use Jasper to create a marketing video for your business without needing to hire a costly video production company. Or, you could use Jasper AI to create an animated explainer video for your new product or service.

It would even help with AI generating 3D visualization, which is something I’m keen on implementing ASAP and have made early an Proof of Concept.

Jasper Everywhere

Perhaps the biggest reveal was what Dave Rogenmoser called the “Jasper Everywhere” plan.

This is Jasper’s intention to make their AI-powered platform integrate with everywhere you write. Dave Rogenmoser believes that Jasper will become the go-to Homebase for content creation.

I think the “Jasper Everywhere” plan is a smart one. They’re making Jasper the default AI content creation tool. And that’s a very valuable position to be in.

The Future of Jasper AI:

Dave hinted in a blog post that there are two more major announcements coming hot on the heels of this one. I’m not sure what those could be, but I’m excited to find out.

In the short term, I think we’ll see more integrations and partnerships announced. This will help Jasper AI become available in more places, and also help them gather more data (which is essential for improving their AI).

In the long term, we can continue to expect big things from Jasper. They have the funding, the team, and the vision to really change the content creation landscape with AI.

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