Runway, a New York–based AI video startup, has launched a $10 million Builders Programme venture fund to back early-stage AI, media, and world-simulation startups.

The fund operates across three pathways: technical teams focused on infrastructure and frontier tech, builders developing applications on foundation models, and companies experimenting with new content‑creation formats.

Runway has already made early bets in LanceDB, Tamarind Bio, and Cartesia within the last 18 months, aligning with adjacent technologies like AI databases and real-time audio generation to augment its platform.

Lenny's Podcast shares practical product-building guidance from Claire Vo and features conversations with leading product and growth experts.

The Talk Show With John Gruber offers director’s commentary and wide-ranging digressions on Apple, technology, design, and film.

Cheeky Pint hosts discussions on compliance at scale and the idea that total addressable market (TAM) is a distraction, featuring Christina Cacioppo of Vanta and various founders and leaders over a pint.

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Big Technology Podcast analyzes major tech-industry topics and company moves with insider perspectives and informed commentary.

Major investors in the space include Nvidia and Qatar Investment Authority.

Characters enables real-time, interactive AI agents with customizable faces and voices across styles, intended to drive adoption of Runway’s tools among millions of creators and Fortune 500 clients and to power customer support, brand characters, onboarding, and synthetic media projects.

Founding Builders cohorts include Cartesia, MSCHF, Oasys Health, Spara, Subject, and Supersonik, illustrating a diverse mix of fintech, healthcare, and creative‑studio applications.

Runway’s broader vision centers on multimodal, interactive, real-time world models capable of generating and simulating entire environments and enabling conversations with characters within those environments.