Video AI: Twelve Labs gets $100M from Amazon for search tech

Twelve Labs Inc. just hit the jackpot, raising a cool $100 million from a pretty serious lineup of investors. We're talking Amazon.com Inc., the usual suspects at NEA Management Co., and Naver Ventures. Quite a hefty sum, wouldn't you say? Twelve Labs Inc. raised $100 million on July 1, 2026, from investors including Amazon.com Inc., NEA Management Co., and Naver Ventures.

So, what's all this cash for? Simple: the goal is to develop artificial intelligence capable of quickly searching and analyzing mountains of video. Imagine not having to scroll through hours of footage just to find that one specific moment you're looking for. A dream, right?

Because, let's be honest, current video search is a bit of a mess. If you don't have the exact title or perfect description, finding anything is nearly impossible. Existing systems often rely on tags, titles, or transcripts, which only capture a tiny fraction of what's actually in a video.

Twelve Labs wants to go beyond mere text. The idea is for their AI to understand the visual and audio content of a video at a much deeper level. This means being able to search for things like "a man dancing with a cat in a hat" and actually find it, even if no exact keyword exists. Currently, most video search systems rely on metadata or transcripts, limiting visual content understanding.

Well, life might get a little less frustrating, hopefully. How many times have you looked for a meme, a specific movie scene, or a tutorial and just given up? With AI like this, we could wave goodbye to endless scrolling and fruitless attempts.

Twelve Labs' goal is to allow users to find specific moments within hours of video using natural language descriptions. Think of the time saved, both for professionals working with video and for anyone just wanting to rewatch that epic game moment. Finally, technology helping us not lose our minds staring at YouTube.