The BlackForestLabs Team is composed of distinguished AI researchers and engineers with an outstanding track record in developing foundational generative AI models across academic, industrial, and open-source environments. Their innovations include the creation of VQGAN and Latent Diffusion, as well as the Stable Diffusion models for image and video generation (Stable Diffusion XL, Stable Video Diffusion, Rectified Flow Transformers). Additionally, they have developed Adversarial Diffusion Distillation for ultra-fast, real-time image synthesis.
The team holds a core belief that making models widely accessible not only fosters innovation and collaboration within the research community and academia but also enhances transparency, which is essential for building trust and ensuring broad adoption. They are committed to developing the highest quality technology and making it accessible to the broadest audience possible.
Funding
The BlackForestLabs Team is excited to announce the successful closing of their Series Seed funding round, raising $31 million. This round was led by their main investor, Andreessen Horowitz, with notable participation from angel investors Brendan Iribe, Michael Ovitz, Garry Tan, Timo Aila, Vladlen Koltun, and other renowned experts in AI research and company building. Follow-up investments were received from General Catalyst and MätchVC to support their mission of bringing state-of-the-art AI from Europe to everyone around the world.
Furthermore, they are pleased to announce the formation of their advisory board, which includes Michael Ovitz, who brings extensive experience in the content creation industry, and Prof. Matthias Bethge, a pioneer of neural style transfer and a leading expert in open European AI research.
The Team
Andreas Blattmann, Andi Holmes, Axel Sauer, Dominik Lorenz, Dustin Podell, Frederic Boesel, Harry Saini, Jonas Müller, Kyle Lacey, Patrick Esser, Robin Rombach, Sumith Kulal, Tim Dockhorn, Yam Levi, Zion English.
BlackForest Labs Team Overview
BlackForest Labs is a dynamic team of experts driven by a shared passion for artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology. The team consists of founders, engineers, and researchers dedicated to exploring and developing innovative AI tools and solutions. The collective expertise of BlackForest Labs covers a broad spectrum of AI-related fields, making it a hub of creativity and technical prowess.
Andreas Blattmann
- Position: Co-Founder
- Role: Andreas is one of the key visionaries behind BlackForest Labs, contributing to the strategic direction and overall leadership of the company.
Axel Sauer
- Position: Co-Founder
- Role: Axel plays a pivotal role in guiding the development and innovation efforts at BlackForest Labs, working closely with the team to realize their shared vision.
Sumith Kulal
- Position: Co-Founder
- Role: Sumith is instrumental in the founding and continued growth of BlackForest Labs, focusing on business development and operational management.
Frederic Boesel
- Position: Founding Team Member
- Role: As a founding team member, Frederic supports the core functions of BlackForest Labs, contributing to its establishment and ongoing projects.
Harry Saini
- Position: Chief Weaver
- Role: Harry’s unique role as Chief Weaver involves integrating different aspects of the company’s operations, ensuring seamless collaboration and innovation.
Yam L.
- Position: Research Engineer
- Role: Yam is responsible for conducting advanced research and developing new technologies, playing a crucial role in BlackForest Labs’ innovative projects.
Kyle Lacey
- Position: MLOps Engineer
- Role: Kyle specializes in machine learning operations, developing intelligent systems and ensuring the robustness of AI models and infrastructure.
Jonas Julius Müller
- Position: Research Scientist
- Role: Jonas focuses on scientific research within the lab, contributing to the development of new AI methodologies and technologies.
Zion English
- Position: Machine Learning Engineer
- Role: Zion works on developing and optimizing machine learning models, ensuring they meet the technical and performance requirements of various projects.
Dustin Podell
- Position: Designer
- Role: Dustin is responsible for the aesthetic and user interface aspects, ensuring that the products and tools developed by BlackForest Labs are both functional and visually appealing.
Tim Dockhorn
- Position: PhD Student (Affiliated)
- Role: Tim, while pursuing his PhD at the University of Waterloo, collaborates with BlackForest Labs on machine learning research, contributing to the lab’s cutting-edge projects.