Upscale
Upscale AI (legal entity TVAds AI, Inc., DBA Upscale.ai) is an AI-native advertising platform that enables direct-to-consumer commerce brands to generate, run, and measure TV-quality video campaigns on streaming TV and connected TV.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersMiddletown, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Upscale does
Upscale AI (legal entity TVAds AI, Inc., DBA Upscale.ai) is an end-to-end AI-powered advertising platform that enables direct-to-consumer commerce brands to generate, run, and optimize TV-quality video creatives on streaming TV and connected TV (CTV). Founded in 2020/2021 and headquartered in New York with an engineering office in San Mateo, the company targets mid-market and enterprise DTC brands across verticals including baby products, furniture, health and wellness, apparel, supplements, pets, and beauty. Its core value proposition is converting streaming TV from a brand-awareness channel into a measurable performance channel by integrating creative production, programmatic media buying, and attribution in one workflow.
The platform is built around three core modules: Composer AI, which ingests brand assets, customer data, and CRM signals to generate personalized narratives and TV-ready video ads; Smart Campaigns, which applies proprietary machine learning models (including multi-armed bandits and reinforcement learning techniques) for real-time programmatic bidding across streaming TV, CTV, and other programmatic video channels; and Ad Insights, which provides multi-touch attribution, conversion path mapping, and built-in incrementality testing. The product follows a five-step automated creative pipeline (Integrate, Analyze, Generate, Compose, Upscale) and integrates with creative asset repositories, CRM systems, and major e-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Salesforce). Disclosed customer outcomes include a 95% reduction in creative production cost ($10K to $500 per creative), 85% faster time-to-live campaigns (6 days vs. 6–7 weeks), and reported ROAS outcomes ranging from 2x to 6.2x across named customers.
The company monetizes through tiered subscription-style plans bundled with minimum media spend commitments: Starter ($100/day, ~$3K/month), Growth ($500/day, ~$15K/month), and Enterprise ($2,500/day, ~$50K/month). Distribution combines enterprise field sales for large accounts, inside sales for mid-market, and a self-serve Studio (studio.upscale.ai). Upscale is venture-backed by M12 (Microsoft's venture fund), NVP Capital, 650 Ventures, SuperAngel, and Boldstart Ventures (BPC), with a $5.5M round closed in May 2025 led by NVP Capital, following a $772K seed in April 2021. The founding team — Herman Yang (CEO), Kevin Weatherman (Head of Business), Mike Chang (Head of Product & Ops), and Seth Yates (Head of Technology) — collectively brings 100+ years of adtech and AI/ML experience across 12 startups, 8 M&A transactions, and 4 IPOs.
Upscale firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Upscale
- Legal name
- TVAds AI, Inc.
- Website
- https://upscale.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Upscale AI (legal entity TVAds AI, Inc., DBA Upscale.ai) is an AI-native advertising platform that enables direct-to-consumer commerce brands to generate, run, and measure TV-quality video campaigns on streaming TV and connected TV.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Upscale industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Performance TV Advertising Software
- NAICS
- Media Buying Agencies (54183), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Content-Aware/AI Media Processing (Per-Title Encode, Scene Detection) (MPAHAHAH)
Keywords
Where Upscale is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Middletown
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Upscale business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription + Media Spend Bundling: Upscale AI bundles AI creative generation, media buying, and measurement into subscription-style plans with minimum monthly media spend commitments. Pricing is structured as daily spend minimums ($100-$2,500/day) with bundled AI creative quotas (2-20 creatives/month). The model combines software subscription revenue with pass-through media buying costs.
- Performance-Based Creative Credits: Each pricing tier includes a monthly allocation of AI-generated creatives bundled with the platform. Creatives can be downloaded for use across social and linear/streaming TV channels. Additional creatives or overages are presumably billed as add-ons.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Starter Plan: $100/day ($3,000/month minimum media spend) with 2 AI Creatives/month for YouTube + Studio |
| Subscription | Monthly | Growth Plan: $500/day ($15,000/month minimum media spend) with 6 AI Creatives/month for Streaming + Studio |
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise Plan: $2,500/day ($50,000/month minimum media spend) with 20 AI Creatives/month for Streaming + Studio |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Upscale product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Upscale AI is an end-to-end AI advertising platform that generates TV-quality video creatives from a brand's existing assets, programmatically buys media on streaming TV and CTV, and measures campaign performance through multi-touch attribution and incrementality testing. The platform is offered to commerce brands on tiered subscription plans that bundle AI creative generation with minimum monthly media spend commitments.
Product overview
Upscale AI is an end-to-end AI advertising platform for commerce brands, combining three core product modules: Composer AI for creative generation, Smart Campaigns for ML-powered media buying, and Ad Insights for attribution and measurement. The platform operates through Upscale Studio as the central hub, offering tiered pricing plans (Starter, Growth, Enterprise) differentiated by daily spend minimums and AI creative allocations. Creative production follows a 5-step automated pipeline: Integrate, Analyze, Generate, Compose, and Upscale, delivering TV-quality video ads in minutes rather than weeks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Composer AI AI creative director and editor that ingests brand creative assets, analyzes style, tone, value props and customer data, and generates personalized narratives and TV-quality video ads tailored for different audiences. Powers the Generate stage of Upscale's five-step creative pipeline.
- Smart Campaigns ML-powered campaign management with real-time programmatic bidding across streaming TV, CTV, and other programmatic video channels, optimizing for performance outcomes such as customer acquisition, website visits, and sign-ups.
- Ad Insights Holistic attribution and measurement platform that reconstructs ad view-to-conversion journeys, provides built-in incrementality testing, and delivers data-driven insights that automatically feed back into creative optimization.
- Upscale Studio Unified AI advertising platform that combines creative generation, programmatic media buying, and attribution/measurement capabilities into a single hub for managing performance TV campaigns on streaming channels.
Quantifiable outcome
- 95% cost savings on creative production ($10K to $500)
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Upscale
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Upscale technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability10 records
Feature5 records
Upscale partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Upscale competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- MNTN: Performance-focused connected TV advertising platform targeting DTC and SMB brands with self-serve campaign management and measurement. Most direct competitor given overlap in target segment, performance TV value prop, and DTC commerce focus.
- Smartly.io: AI-powered creative production and media buying platform with strong social and digital commerce focus. Overlaps with Upscale on automated creative generation and ML-driven campaign optimization across performance channels.
- Celtra: Creative automation and production platform for digital advertising at scale. Overlaps with Upscale's creative generation pipeline and serves similar enterprise and agency customers with dynamic creative workflows.
- AdCreative.ai: AI ad creative generation platform producing conversion-focused ad creatives. Closely comparable on the AI creative generation component of Upscale's offering, though lighter on media buying and CTV-specific workflows.
- Tatari: Performance TV and CTV advertising platform built for DTC and direct-response brands, with measurement and analytics integrated. Competes directly on the same commerce-brand use case and streaming TV performance positioning.
Broad incumbents
- Magnite: Largest independent CTV and video sell-side platform. Adjacent infrastructure competitor on the supply side of streaming TV that could move into creative or measurement to compete with Upscale's integrated model.
- Innovid: Independent CTV ad serving, creative personalization, and measurement platform. Comparable on CTV creative, delivery, and analytics, but operates more broadly across publishers and agencies rather than focusing on DTC brand advertisers.
- Wurl: CTV content distribution and advertising platform. Comparable on the streaming TV advertising infrastructure side, with overlap in performance-oriented CTV ad products and content-driven ad insertion.
- The Trade Desk: Leading independent demand-side platform with a major CTV offering. Provides media buying and measurement infrastructure that Upscale layers on top of, and represents the primary competitive threat if it expands into AI-driven creative.
Emerging players
- ArcSpan: Audience data and CTV targeting platform focused on helping advertisers reach streaming audiences. Overlaps with Upscale's 1st-party-data-driven targeting and measurement capabilities for CTV campaigns.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Upscale social profiles
Digital presenceUpscale financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Upscale leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Upscale funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors9 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Upscale 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 Upscale
What does Upscale do?
Upscale AI is an end-to-end AI advertising platform that generates TV-quality video creatives from a brand's existing assets, programmatically buys media on streaming TV and CTV, and measures campaign performance through multi-touch attribution and incrementality testing. The platform is offered to commerce brands on tiered subscription plans that bundle AI creative generation with minimum monthly media spend commitments.
Is Upscale a public or private company?
Upscale is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Upscale founded?
Upscale was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Upscale based?
Upscale is headquartered in Middletown, United States, in the North America region.
How does Upscale make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription + Media Spend Bundling is the primary driver. The others are performance-Based Creative Credits.
Who are Upscale's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are MNTN, Smartly.io, Celtra, AdCreative.ai and Tatari. Broad incumbents are Magnite, Innovid, Wurl and The Trade Desk. ArcSpan is listed as an emerging player.
Does Upscale have an API?
No public API is recorded for Upscale.
What industry is Upscale in?
Upscale's product category is Performance TV Advertising Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAA, End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management), with a secondary code of MPAHAHAH, Content-Aware/AI Media Processing (Per-Title Encode, Scene Detection). Its NAICS code is 54183 and its SIC code is 7311.