ComfyUI raises $30M at $500M valuation for AI media control tools

ComfyUI, a startup that helps creators control image, video, and audio outputs from diffusion models with a node-based workflow, has raised a $30 million funding round at a $500 million valuation. The round was led by Craft Ventures, with participation from Pace Capital, Chemistry, and TruArrow. ComfyUI was started as an open-source project in 2023, shortly after the introduction of diffusion models. The founders developed a modular framework that gives creators granular control over every step of the generation process. In late 2024, ComfyUI raised $19 million in Series A financing from investors including Chemistry Ventures, Cursor Capital, and Guillermo Rauch, founder of Vercel. Yoland Yan, ComfyUI's co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that typical prompt-based solutions get only 60% to 80% of the way to a desired output. Changing the remaining 20% requires what Yan compared to playing a slot machine, because prompting a model to make a small change can result in a completely different output, including overwriting parts that were already correct. ComfyUI's node-based interface allows creators to link specific components of the generation process. ComfyUI claims to have over 4 million users. The tool is being used by creative professionals for visual effects, animation, advertising, and industrial design. The startup says it is not uncommon to see "ComfyUI artist or engineer" listed as a job title on studio job boards. ComfyUI's competitors include Weavy, a startup that was acquired by Figma last year.