Pika
Pika (Mellis, Inc.) is a generative AI video platform that lets creators, marketers, SMBs, and developers produce videos from text, image, video, and audio prompts via proprietary in-house video foundation models, distributed through web, iOS, Discord, API, and Adobe Firefly.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersPalo Alto, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Pika does
Pika (operated by Mellis, Inc.) is a Palo Alto-based generative AI video platform founded in April 2023 by Stanford AI Lab PhD researchers Demi Guo (CEO) and Chenlin Meng. The company builds a proprietary video foundation model trained from scratch in-house (current generation Pika 2.5, alongside 2.2, 2.1, 2.0, 1.5, and Turbo), exposed through text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation with multimodal inputs spanning text, image, video, and audio. Differentiated features include Pikaffects (physics-defying effects like squish, melt, cake-ify), Pikaframes (keyframe-conditioned generation up to 25 seconds), Pikaswaps/Pikadditions/Pikatwists (object and action editing), Pikaformance (audio-synced facial animation), and AI Selves (autonomous AI digital clones), with the underlying model architecture treated as proprietary trade secret.
Pika firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pika
- Legal name
- Mellis, Inc.
- Website
- https://pika.art
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pika (Mellis, Inc.) is a generative AI video platform that lets creators, marketers, SMBs, and developers produce videos from text, image, video, and audio prompts via proprietary in-house video foundation models, distributed through web, iOS, Discord, API, and Adobe Firefly.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Pika industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Generative AI Video Platform
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creator-Centric Short-Form Video Platforms (MPACAHAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Social, Community & Creator Platform Feeds (HDAAAGAD), Responsible AI, Security & Privacy Platforms (Safety, Guardrails, PII) (HDAEANAG)
Keywords
Where Pika is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Palo Alto
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Pika business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription plans: Tiered subscription with monthly, weekly, and yearly billing options. Four plans (Basic free, Standard $8/mo, Pro $28/mo, Fancy $76/mo) that auto-renew. Each plan includes a fixed monthly video credit allocation (80 to 6,000 credits) with commercial use rights from Standard tier upward.
- Credit top-up purchases: Pay-as-you-go credit packs on top of subscription base for additional video generations beyond the monthly allowance. Credit packs ($10 for 375, $20 for 750, $30 for 1,125 credits) that never expire, providing a secondary usage-based revenue layer.
- AI Self monetization profit share: Pika retains a profit share of revenue generated through user-monetized AI Selves, with users retaining ownership of their AI Self and associated likeness data. Identity verification through third-party payment provider is required for payouts.
- Pika API revenue: API access to Pika's video models distributed through Fal.ai, allowing developers and partners to embed Pika generation capabilities in third-party products. Commercial API usage monetizes model access at scale.
- Freemium tier: Free Basic plan with 80 monthly credits and limited 480p output acts as a top-of-funnel acquisition channel that converts users into paid Standard, Pro, or Fancy tiers requiring commercial use.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Basic - Free tier for the creatively curious, 80 monthly credits, 480p Pika 2.5 access only. |
| Subscription | Annual | Standard - More videos and editing features, 700 monthly credits, full Pika 2.5 resolution access. |
| Subscription | Annual | Pro - More speed and volume, 2,300 monthly credits, faster generations. |
| Subscription | Annual | Fancy - Top tier with 6,000 monthly credits and fastest generation. |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Credit top-up packs for additional generations. |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Pika API via Fal.ai |
Go-to-market motion5 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
Pika product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pika is a generative AI video platform that lets users create videos from text prompts, images, or existing videos using proprietary video foundation models (currently Pika 2.5). It offers text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation, plus a suite of creative effects (Pikaffects, Pikaframes, Pikascenes, Pikadditions, Pikaswaps, Pikatwists), audio-synced lip-sync via Pikaformance, and an AI Selves agent product for autonomous digital clones. Access is provided via a self-serve web app, iOS mobile app, Discord, a public API through Fal.ai, and an OEM integration inside Adobe Firefly, with freemium and tiered paid subscriptions.
Product overview
Pika (operated by Mellis, Inc.) is a generative AI video platform that combines proprietary video foundation models with a suite of integrated creative tools, agents, and effects modules. At its core is the latest Pika 2.5 video model, alongside a family of models (Pika 2.2, 2.1, 2.0, 1.5, and Turbo) that power text-to-video and image-to-video generation. The platform extends its capabilities through specialized editing features including Pikaffects (reality-bending effects like squish, melt, cake-ify), Pikascenes (scene composition), Pikadditions (insert elements into videos), Pikaswaps (replace objects in videos), Pikatwists (change video endings via prompt), and Pikaframes (keyframe-driven generation up to 25 seconds). Pika Agent / AI Selves enable autonomous AI agents that operate across the platform and on third-party platforms like X and Discord, while Pika MCP extends Pika's creative skills to any external agent via Model Context Protocol. Pikaformance adds audio-synced facial expression generation, and AI Trendmaker helps users ride viral video trends. The platform is accessible via web (pika.art), iOS mobile app, Discord, and a public API distributed through Fal.ai, with subscription tiers ranging from Free to Fancy.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- AI Selves: A Pika platform product launched in February 2026 that lets users create autonomous AI digital clones of themselves using selfies, voice recordings, and personality responses that can operate across messaging platforms and social media.
Products and services
- Pika Video Generation Platform (Pika Web App) Core AI video generation platform offering text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video capabilities through proprietary video foundation models (currently Pika 2.5), accessible via web, with tiered subscriptions from free Basic to Fancy. For creators, marketers, SMBs, and enterprise users globally.
- Pika iOS Mobile App (Pikaffects by Pika) Native iOS application bringing Pika's AI video creation capabilities, including Pikaffects one-tap effects, to mobile devices via the Apple App Store, with subscriptions managed through Apple ID and account sync to web.
- Pika API (via Fal.ai) Public API exposing Pika's video models to developers, distributed exclusively through Fal.ai, enabling programmatic integration of Pika's video generation capabilities into third-party applications with usage-based billing.
- AI Selves / Pika Agent Autonomous AI agent platform that lets users create digital clones from their own likeness, voice, and personality; the agent operates across messaging platforms (X, Discord) and can perform tasks, evolve with interaction, and be monetized by users who retain ownership of their AI Self data.
- Pika MCP (Model Context Protocol Integration)
Companies that use Pika
Customer profileSegments7 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
Pika technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
AI capability11 records
Feature12 records
Pika partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship distribution partner, mid-tier creative partner, core distribution partner, core vendor, mid-tier technology partner, core sign-in integration and core sign-in and community integration.
- Adobeflagship distribution partnerPika's video models are integrated as a partner AI model inside Adobe Firefly, announced at Adobe MAX on October 28, 2025. Pika is accessible alongside OpenAI, Google, Black Forest Labs, Topaz Labs, ElevenLabs, and Runway via a single Adobe subscription, with both web and Firefly mobile (iOS/Android) access.
- Ceiling Train / Josh Cohenmid-tier creative partnerPika partnered with production company Ceiling Train, directed by Josh Cohen, to produce the retro-futuristic 'AI Selves' launch infomercial that trended on X for two consecutive days.
- Fal.aicore distribution partnerExclusive API distribution partner for Pika. Hosts all Pika API endpoints and provides serverless infrastructure for developers to integrate Pika's video models into third-party products.
- Stripecore vendorPika uses Stripe as its third-party payment service provider for subscription billing, card acceptance, settlement, payouts (including AI Self monetization identity verification), and related payment services.
- ElevenLabsmid-tier technology partnerPika offers text-to-video generation with AI lip-syncing capabilities through a partnership with ElevenLabs, enabling audio-visual synchronization on generated videos.
- Googlecore sign-in integrationSingle sign-on integration allowing users to create and log into their Pika account using Google authentication.
- Facebookcore sign-in integrationSingle sign-on integration allowing users to create and log into their Pika account using Facebook authentication.
- Discordcore sign-in and community integrationSingle sign-on integration allowing users to create and log into their Pika account using Discord authentication; Discord also serves as the original launch and ongoing community platform for Pika.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Pika competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Runway: Runway is a generative AI video platform offering text-to-video, image-to-video, and editing tools (Gen-3, Gen-4) to creators and enterprises. It is the most direct competitor to Pika in target market, pricing tiers, and use cases, and is also a partner model inside Adobe Firefly.
- Luma AI: Luma AI builds generative video models (Dream Machine, Ray) for text-to-video and image-to-video, directly competing with Pika in the same creator and prosumer segment. It also targets enterprise via API and is a frequent head-to-head benchmark in generative video quality comparisons.
- HeyGen: HeyGen is an AI video generation platform focused on avatar-based and multilingual video content for marketing and enterprise use cases. It overlaps with Pika's enterprise and marketer segments and is pursuing AI Selves-style personalization with its Avatar product.
- Synthesia: Synthesia is an enterprise AI video platform specializing in AI-generated avatar videos for corporate training, communications, and marketing. It competes with Pika's enterprise tier and overlaps with Pika's audio-synced facial animation capabilities through Pikaformance and ElevenLabs integration.
- Stability AI: Stability AI develops open-source generative media models including Stable Video Diffusion, directly competing with Pika's core video foundation model. Its open-weight distribution model pressures pricing across the category and overlaps with Pika's developer/API motion.
Emerging players
- Midjourney: Midjourney is a leading generative AI image platform with a strong creator brand that is expanding into video generation. It overlaps with Pika in the high-end creator segment and represents a likely future head-to-head competitor as its video model matures.
- Lightricks: Lightricks is a mobile-first creative AI company (Facetune, Videoleap) that has expanded into generative AI video and photo tools. It targets creators and SMBs similar to Pika's primary segments and represents a relevant comparable in the consumer-creator funnel.
Broad incumbents
- OpenAI (Sora): OpenAI's Sora is a flagship text-to-video model bundled into ChatGPT and the OpenAI API, with effectively unlimited compute and the broadest consumer/enterprise distribution in the category. Sora is a structural threat to Pika's quality and pricing position and also a co-listed partner model inside Adobe Firefly.
- Google DeepMind (Veo): Google's Veo is a text-to-video model distributed through Gemini, Vertex AI, and Adobe Firefly. With hyperscaler compute and Google's enterprise footprint, Veo competes with Pika across both consumer reach and enterprise API contracts.
- Adobe: Adobe is both Pika's flagship distribution partner (Adobe Firefly) and a broad incumbent in creative software with its own generative video roadmap inside Premiere Pro and Firefly Video. It competes with Pika indirectly through Creative Cloud bundles and directly controls partner economics inside Firefly.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Pika social profiles
Digital presencePika compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Pika financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pika leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Pika funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pika M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pika
What does Pika do?
Pika is a generative AI video platform that lets users create videos from text prompts, images, or existing videos using proprietary video foundation models (currently Pika 2.5). It offers text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation, plus a suite of creative effects (Pikaffects, Pikaframes, Pikascenes, Pikadditions, Pikaswaps, Pikatwists), audio-synced lip-sync via Pikaformance, and an AI Selves agent product for autonomous digital clones. Access is provided via a self-serve web app, iOS mobile app, Discord, a public API through Fal.ai, and an OEM integration inside Adobe Firefly, with freemium and tiered paid subscriptions.
Is Pika a public or private company?
Pika is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Pika founded?
Pika was founded in 2023. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pika based?
Pika is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pika make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Subscription plans are the primary driver. The others are credit top-up purchases, AI Self monetization profit share, pika API revenue and freemium tier.
Who are Pika's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Runway, Luma AI, HeyGen, Synthesia and Stability AI. Emerging players are Midjourney and Lightricks. Broad incumbents are OpenAI (Sora), Google DeepMind (Veo) and Adobe.
Does Pika have an API?
Yes. The Pika API is available through Fal.ai, allowing developers to access Pika's video models and integrate them into their own products. Developers can sign up on Fal.ai, then find and select Pika API endpoints to implement. For questions regarding Pika API endpoints offered on Fal, developers can email [email protected]; for endpoints not currently offered on Fal, developers can email [email protected]. Pika MCP (Model Context Protocol) is also available as an experiment, giving any existing agent the ability to make rich content with access to creative models and Pika-made skills. Developer documentation is at fal.ai/explore/search?q=pika.
What industry is Pika in?
Pika's product category is Generative AI Video Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAHAB, Creator-Centric Short-Form Video Platforms, with a secondary code of HDAAAGAD, Social, Community & Creator Platform Feeds. Its NAICS code is 516210 and its SIC code is 7372.