Hour one
AcquiredFounded 2019 · 29 employees on LinkedIn · 8 known investors
Israeli-American AI company that turned real people into synthetic "virtual twin" video presenters; acquired by Wix in 2025.
Also known as Hour One AI · HourOne.ai
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Hour One was an artificial intelligence company that developed virtual human characters for professional video communications. Its platform captured a person's likeness in a short filming session and generated a "virtual twin" — a synthetic character that could be animated with lifelike expressiveness and made to speak in any language from text input alone. The resulting characters were deployed in roles such as virtual receptionist, salesperson, HR representative and language instructor, and the individuals behind the characters could earn passive income when their likeness appeared in commercial and professional content.
The company's self-service product, Reals, allowed businesses to produce fully rendered, studio-quality videos automatically from text in minutes without cameras or production crews. Marketing-oriented descriptions of the platform also cite mass personalization of video at scale, integration with CRM and other data sources to generate videos from customer profiles and behavioral data, interactive in-video elements, and analytics on video performance. Underlying the product was a proprietary infrastructure combining generative AI inference with high-fidelity 3D rendering, applied to use cases such as video narrators, personalized explainer content and virtual storefront greeters.
Hour One was headquartered in Tel Aviv and New York City. In May 2025 it was acquired by the website-building platform Wix.com, which brought the technology and the founding team in-house as part of its shift toward AI-driven digital content creation.
Founding story
Hour One was founded in 2019 by technologist Oren Aharon, who served as CEO, together with co-founders Lior Hakim and Arnon Kahani. Remagine Ventures was an early backer of the company.
Business model
Hour One sold access to its AI video generation technology to businesses, including through the Reals self-service platform for automated video creation from text. Its stated long-term aim was to embed the capability inside other software products or expose it through a real-time API. Individuals whose likenesses became virtual characters could receive passive income from their characters' appearances.
Commercial software offering for businesses, including a paid self-service platform (Reals) for generating videos from text, with an ambition to license or embed the technology in other software products and via API.
Traction
Customers included Berlitz, which generated thousands of videos featuring virtual instructors, along with NBCUniversal and DreamWorks. The company raised $20 million in a 2022 Series A and planned to triple headcount across its New York and Tel Aviv offices.
Latest developments
In May 2025, Wix.com acquired Hour One, integrating its AI-generated video technology into Wix's platform. Wix COO Ronny Elkayam cited opportunities to accelerate innovation and the cost and product-velocity benefits of owning the underlying infrastructure rather than licensing it. Hour One's staff, including the founding team, moved to Wix's headquarters, and CEO Oren Aharon said the team would continue its work on scalable AI media creation with Wix's global reach.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Hour One operated in the generative AI video and synthetic presenter market. Its Series A investor Insight Partners characterized the company as being at the vanguard of generative AI video, and its acquisition by Wix was framed as a way for the acquirer to own rather than license AI video infrastructure.
Focus on virtual twins derived from real, filmed people rather than fully synthetic characters; text-to-video generation with matching voice and graphics across languages; a pipeline blending generative inference with 3D rendering; a model in which the humans behind the characters share in earnings; and productization through the Reals self-service platform.
Technology
The platform captured a person's appearance in a short filming session and used AI to produce a virtual twin that could be animated from text with matching voice, expressiveness and graphics in multiple languages. The infrastructure combined generative AI inference with high-fidelity 3D rendering to produce video that mimics live footage but is generated entirely from code, and was described as scalable enough to be invoked in real time via API.
Go-to-market
A combination of direct enterprise and media partnerships and a self-service product. Named customers included Berlitz, which used the technology to produce thousands of videos with lifelike virtual instructors, and NBCUniversal and DreamWorks; the Reals platform provided lower-touch access for businesses. Hour One also partnered with NBCUniversal, DreamWorks and Cameo on IP personalization.
Businesses using video for professional communications, spanning e-learning, media, HR, e-commerce and SaaS, as well as marketing and training teams needing personalized or multilingual video at scale.
Geography
Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and New York City, with hiring planned in both locations; the company was described as an Israeli startup.
History
Founded in 2019 in Israel, Hour One built AI technology for converting real people into virtual human characters usable in business video. It launched Reals, a self-service text-to-video platform, and in April 2022 raised a $20 million Series A led by Insight Partners, after which it said it would triple headcount in New York and Tel Aviv. In May 2025 the company was acquired by Wix.com, with its team, including the founders, joining Wix.
Risks & controversies
Hour One's technology depended on capturing and reanimating the likenesses of real people, a model that raises questions around consent and compensation; the company addressed compensation by letting the humans behind virtual characters earn passive income from appearances. The company ceased to operate independently following its 2025 acquisition by Wix.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsWix.com acquired Hour One to integrate its AI-generated video technology into the Wix platform and reduce reliance on external AI providers. Hour One's staff, including the founding team, joined Wix at its headquarters. Financial terms were not reported.
Following the Series A, Hour One said it was hiring across all functions and planned to triple its headcount in both New York and Tel Aviv.
Hour One announced a $20 million Series A round led by Insight Partners with participation from Galaxy Interactive, Remagine Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Semble Ventures, Cerca Partners, Digital-Horizon and Eynat Guez (CEO of Papaya Global). Proceeds were earmarked for streamlining the process of creating a virtual human on the platform from any mobile device. Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners, joined the Hour One board.
$20M source ↗
Hour One partnered with NBCUniversal, DreamWorks and Cameo to bring personalization at scale to their core intellectual property.
Hour One launched Reals, a self-service platform allowing businesses to generate human-led video automatically from text input.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Hour One — AI Video Toolgenai.works · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Hour one do?
- Israeli-American AI company that turned real people into synthetic "virtual twin" video presenters; acquired by Wix in 2025.
- Who are Hour one's investors?
- Hour one's investors include Digital Horizon, Digital Horizon VC, Insight Partners, Kindred Ventures, Roosh Ventures.