Coactive AI
Coactive AI is a San Jose-based multimodal AI platform that lets media, publisher, agency, and ad-tech enterprises search, moderate, and monetize image and video libraries through natural-language contextual intelligence, without requiring pre-existing metadata.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersSan Jose, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Coactive AI does
Coactive AI is a multimodal artificial intelligence platform company founded in 2021 by Cody Coleman and William Gaviria Rojas, headquartered in San Jose, California. The company provides a unified intelligence layer that enables organizations to search, analyze, moderate, and monetize unstructured visual content — primarily video, image, and audio libraries — without requiring pre-existing metadata. Its core product, the Coactive Multimodal AI Platform, indexes content once and distributes processing cost across all downstream use cases, powering application modules including Context Studio (contextual advertising activation), Dynamic Tags (natural-language custom taxonomy creation), Content Discovery, Content Understanding, Content Analytics, Content Moderation & Brand Safety, Agentic Search, Concepts, and Query Engine.
The platform serves enterprise customers in media and entertainment, publishing, agencies, brands, ad-tech, and platforms with user-generated content. Named customers include Fandom, NBCUniversal, Thomson Reuters, A+E Networks, and Emplifi, with documented outcomes including 90% auto-moderation of uploads, 74% reduction in manual review hours, 50% cost reduction, +56% search engagement lift, and precision improvement from 59% to 95%+ in creative intelligence workflows. The company sells through enterprise field sales with 6-week proof-of-concept evaluations, a self-serve API with Python SDK, and technology partner channels including AWS, Databricks, and Microsoft. Revenue is generated through quote-based SaaS subscriptions and usage-based API pricing, with both cloud-hosted and self-hosted deployment options. Coactive has raised $40.4 million across a $10.4 million Series A (March 2023) led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners, and a $30 million Series B (May 2024) led by Emerson Collective and Cherryrock Capital, and has been recognized on the Forbes AI 50 list for three consecutive years (2023-2025) and as a Fast Company Most Innovative Company in Applied AI for 2026.
Coactive AI firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Coactive AI
- Legal name
- Coactive Systems Inc.
- Website
- https://coactive.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Coactive AI is a San Jose-based multimodal AI platform that lets media, publisher, agency, and ad-tech enterprises search, moderate, and monetize image and video libraries through natural-language contextual intelligence, without requiring pre-existing metadata.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Coactive AI industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Visual Content Intelligence
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Content-Aware/AI Media Processing (Per-Title Encode, Scene Detection) (MPAHAHAH), End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA), Enterprise Foundation Model Integration & APIs (Connectors, Governance, Deployment) (HDAAACAO)
Keywords
Where Coactive AI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Jose
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Coactive AI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Platform Subscription: Coactive operates as a SaaS platform offering access to its multimodal AI capabilities through subscription-based licensing. Pricing is quote-based for enterprise deployments, with the platform accessible via web applications (Context Studio, Dynamic Tags) and APIs.
- API Usage: API-first platform where customers can build on Coactive's infrastructure. Usage-based consumption for API calls and processing volumes, enabling scalable deployments across different content library sizes.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise SaaS with API access |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | API consumption-based pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Coactive AI product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Coactive AI provides a Multimodal AI Platform that serves as a contextual intelligence layer for visual content, enabling enterprises to search, analyze, and monetize unstructured image and video data without requiring pre-existing metadata. The platform uses multimodal AI to generate dynamic tags, semantic search, and content analytics at petabyte scale, with flagship application Context Studio enabling monetization through activation-ready contextual advertising packages. Core customers include media companies, publishers, agencies, brands, and ad tech platforms processing millions of images and videos monthly.
Product overview
Coactive AI is a Multimodal Application Platform (MAP) that provides a unified intelligence layer for modern media, enabling organizations to search, analyze, and monetize visual content. The platform operates on a core-plus-modules architecture: the Coactive Multimodal AI Platform serves as the foundational engine that indexes content once and powers every application. Context Studio (the flagship application) enables monetization by turning campaign strategy into activation-ready contextual packages. Dynamic Tags provides intent translation allowing custom taxonomy definitions in natural language. Content Discovery enables semantic search, Content Understanding generates AI-powered metadata, and Content Analytics provides measurement insights. Additional modules include Content Moderation & Brand Safety, Agentic Search, Concepts, Query Engine, and the experimental Narrative Metadata feature. The platform processes images, videos, audio, and text through multimodal AI pipelines.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Coactive Multimodal AI Platform The core multimodal AI platform that serves as a contextual intelligence layer for visual content, enabling intelligent search, metadata generation, and analytical queries across unstructured visual data at petabyte scale. Serves as the foundational engine that indexes content once and powers every application and use case for enterprise media companies, publishers, agencies, and ad tech platforms.
- Context Studio Flagship standalone application that enables publishers, brands, and agencies to turn campaign strategy into activation-ready contextual packages. Allows users to define context in their own language, verify moment qualification transparently, and export contextual packages directly to ad servers including FreeWheel and Google Ad Manager (GAM) for ad sales activation.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% of user uploads auto-moderated without human review
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use Coactive AI
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Coactive AI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
AI capability11 records
Feature6 records
Coactive AI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreStrategic collaboration agreement between Coactive AI and AWS to deliver image and video analytics solutions. AWS provides cloud infrastructure for Coactive's multimodal AI platform deployments, enabling scalable processing of visual content for enterprise customers.
- DatabrickssupportingTechnology partnership enabling Coactive to integrate with Databricks' data lake and analytics platform. Databricks customers can leverage Coactive's multimodal AI capabilities within their existing data infrastructure.
- MicrosoftsupportingTechnology partnership with Microsoft for integrated deployments on Azure cloud infrastructure. Enables Microsoft customers to build and deploy multimodal AI solutions for visual content.
- Latham & Watkins LLPsupportingLegal counsel advising Coactive AI on its $30 million Series B funding round. Latham & Watkins provided legal guidance for the financing transaction.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Coactive AI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Twelve Labs: Twelve Labs builds multimodal AI for video understanding and search, allowing developers to build applications that can search, generate text, and classify video content. Directly comparable to Coactive's multimodal AI platform with similar video-first focus and developer/API orientation.
- Hive: Hive provides AI models for content moderation, image and video understanding, and visual generation, with an API-first platform serving enterprise customers. Directly comparable to Coactive's content moderation and visual understanding capabilities.
- Clarifai: Clarifai provides an AI platform for unstructured image, video, and text data with visual recognition, search, and content moderation capabilities. Direct competitor to Coactive in the multimodal AI space serving media, retail, and enterprise customers.
Regional players
- DoubleVerify: DoubleVerify provides media effectiveness and analytics, including brand safety and contextual classification for advertising. While focused on ad verification rather than content indexing, it competes in the broader contextual advertising intelligence space where Coactive also operates.
Emerging players
- Valossa: Valossa provides video AI for content recognition, contextual targeting, and metadata generation for media companies. An emerging player with directly overlapping video understanding capabilities targeting similar media/publisher customers.
- Imagga: Imagga offers image recognition APIs for tagging, categorization, and visual search. A more niche player focused primarily on image (not video) with overlapping content understanding functionality for media and enterprise customers.
Broad incumbents
- Google Cloud Video AI: Google Cloud's Video Intelligence API offers shot detection, label detection, and content search on video content at scale. A broad incumbent offering foundational video AI capabilities that overlap with Coactive's processing layer, though without Coactive's custom taxonomy and contextual advertising focus.
- Microsoft Azure Video Indexer: Microsoft's Azure Video Indexer extracts insights from videos including facial recognition, sentiment, and content moderation. A broad incumbent offering similar video AI capabilities integrated into Microsoft enterprise ecosystem.
- Veritone (aiWARE): Veritone's aiWARE platform provides AI-powered cognitive computing for media and content workflows, including content analytics, moderation, and advertising. A broader incumbent operating in media AI with overlapping capabilities to Coactive's contextual intelligence and content analytics offerings.
- AWS Rekognition / Bedrock: AWS offers native image and video analysis through Rekognition, plus Bedrock for foundation model access. As Coactive's strategic cloud partner, AWS represents both a distribution channel and a competitive threat with broader but less specialized capabilities.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Coactive AI social profiles
Digital presenceCoactive AI compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Coactive AI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Coactive AI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Coactive AI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Coactive AI 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 Coactive AI
What does Coactive AI do?
Coactive AI provides a Multimodal AI Platform that serves as a contextual intelligence layer for visual content, enabling enterprises to search, analyze, and monetize unstructured image and video data without requiring pre-existing metadata. The platform uses multimodal AI to generate dynamic tags, semantic search, and content analytics at petabyte scale, with flagship application Context Studio enabling monetization through activation-ready contextual advertising packages. Core customers include media companies, publishers, agencies, brands, and ad tech platforms processing millions of images and videos monthly.
Is Coactive AI a public or private company?
Coactive AI is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Coactive AI founded?
Coactive AI was founded in 2021. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Coactive AI based?
Coactive AI is headquartered in San Jose, United States, in the North America region.
How does Coactive AI make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. SaaS Platform Subscription is the primary driver. The others are API Usage.
Who are Coactive AI's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Twelve Labs, Hive and Clarifai. DoubleVerify is listed as a regional player. Emerging players are Valossa and Imagga. Broad incumbents are Google Cloud Video AI, Microsoft Azure Video Indexer, Veritone (aiWARE) and AWS Rekognition / Bedrock.
Does Coactive AI have an API?
Yes. Coactive offers a public API for developers to programmatically access its multimodal AI platform capabilities including search, metadata generation, Dynamic Tags, and analytics. The API enables data practitioners to build custom applications, integrate with existing systems, and automate content intelligence workflows. Documentation available at docs.coactive.ai with endpoints for authentication, ingestion, search, concepts, Dynamic Tags, and query engine. Developer documentation is at docs.coactive.ai/docs-guides/introduction/overview.
What industry is Coactive AI in?
Coactive AI's product category is Visual Content Intelligence. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAJ, AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs), with a secondary code of MPAHAHAH, Content-Aware/AI Media Processing (Per-Title Encode, Scene Detection). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.