The archive · AI & Models · Product decision · 2022-2024
Viggle's bet: physics-aware, controllable AI video can start with memes
Toronto startup went viral when the Joker memed Lil Yachty's stage walk, hit 4.3M Discord members, and raised a $19M a16z Series A.
Viggle AI
What the business is
A generative AI video platform: users upload an image and either a text prompt or a reference video, and Viggle's JST-1 model animates the character with physically plausible motion; free tier plus a $9.99/month Pro plan, later expanded with an API.
Starting capital：$19M USD (about $26M CAD) Series A in August 2024; total funding over $27M CAD (about $20M USD) per BetaKit.
How it started
Hang Chu, a Toronto computer-vision researcher who had worked at Autodesk, Nvidia, Meta, and Google, founded WarpEngine Canada Inc. (Viggle AI) in 2022. His thesis: existing text-to-video models are pixel-based and hard to control, so Viggle built JST-1, a video-3D foundation model with what the company calls a 'genuine understanding of physics', letting users specify a character and a motion. The consumer app launched in March 2024.
What happened
The app went viral within weeks when videos began circulating of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker replacing rapper Lil Yachty's stage entrance at the 2021 Summer Smash Festival; by April 2024 it was a trending meme format with countless versions. The community grew to 4.3M Discord members - TSFV's Eva Lau called the growth 'whiplash-inducing'. In August 2024 Viggle raised a $19M USD Series A led by a16z with Two Small Fish Ventures. Growth also brought scrutiny: CEO Chu told TechCrunch the model trained on YouTube videos, the company first backtracked, then confirmed it - a legal gray area shared with other AI labs.
How it ended up
Still live and expanded. Viggle now markets itself as a spatial GenAI platform 'used by 50M+ people worldwide', with PINOC (3D character animation from phone video), Viggle Games, and an API for studios, alongside the original meme tools.
Background
Viggle AI is a Toronto generative-video startup founded in 2022 by Hang Chu, a computer-vision researcher who had worked at Autodesk, Nvidia, Meta, and Google. Its premise was that existing text-to-video models are pixel-based and hard to control, so Viggle built JST-1, a video-3D foundation model that claims a genuine understanding of physics and lets users specify a character and a motion.
The consumer app launched in March 2024 and went viral within weeks: videos began circulating of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker replacing rapper Lil Yachty's stage entrance at the 2021 Summer Smash Festival, and by April the format was a trending meme with countless versions. The community swelled to 4.3 million Discord members.
In August 2024 Viggle raised a $19M USD (about $26M CAD) Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz with Two Small Fish Ventures, bringing total funding past $27M CAD. Growth also brought scrutiny: CEO Hang Chu told TechCrunch the model trained on YouTube videos; the company first backtracked, then confirmed it, landing in the same legal gray area as other AI labs.
As of September 2026 Viggle is live and much bigger. Its site says 50M+ people have used it, and the product line now spans PINOC (3D character animation without a mocap pipeline), Viggle Games, and an API for character swap and motion capture, alongside the original meme tools; the company frames its JST model as an experience engine for physical AI.
What has to be true
- The meme was the demo: one viral clip showed Viggle putting any character into any motion with plausible physics, something pixel-based generators could not do.
- Community-first growth: Discord, not ads, carried the product, and 4.3M members gave investors visible proof of demand before the Series A.
- Controllability was the wedge: creators and studios need to specify motion, and Viggle bet that a 'graphics engine with neural networks' beats prompt-and-pray video generation.
- Timing caught the meme economy: launching during a trending format - Lil Yachty's stage walk - compressed years of growth into weeks.
- The YouTube-training controversy shows the cost of speed: virality and scrutiny arrive together, and data provenance can become a legal liability.
What can be applied
Let the product explain itself: one shareable meme demonstrated Viggle's controllability better than any ad, and a 4M-member Discord became both the moat and the fundraising proof.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Viggle remains live and scaling. Its site claims 50M+ users worldwide and describes the company as a spatial GenAI platform built on its Joint Space-Time (JST) model, with three product lines: PINOC for markerless 3D character animation, Viggle Games for remixable game templates, and an API for embedding character swap and motion capture into other applications. The original free-and-Pro meme tools still anchor the brand. Funding status beyond the August 2024 Series A is not stated on the site.
Sources
- Viggle makes controllable AI characters for memes and visualizing ideas
- Viggle AI closes $26-million CAD Series A to expand AI-powered video generator
- Viggle AI raises $19M in funding for its AI video generator
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