Runway and Holy Water: Two AI Video Companies Trying to Upend Entertainment | StrictlyVC Athens 2026

Why It Matters

These firms illustrate how AI video is becoming a universal engine for both consumer entertainment and enterprise automation, reshaping content economics and opening fresh investment opportunities.

Key Takeaways

• Runway builds foundational video models for creators and robotics.
• Holy Water leverages AI to let anyone produce and monetize content.
• Both prioritize small, agile teams to iterate rapidly on AI products.
• Runway now expanding from creative video to world‑model simulation.
• Monetization strategies differ: Hollywood partnerships vs consumer app distribution.

Summary

The StrictlyVC Athens 2026 panel featured Anastasis, co‑CEO of Runway, and Anatoli Kazanov, co‑CEO of Holy Water Tech, two AI‑driven video companies that have taken divergent paths since their 2018 and 2020 launches. Runway, valued at over $5 billion, positions itself as an applied‑research firm building foundational video generation and world‑model models for creators, marketers, gamers, and now robotics firms. Holy Water, backed by $22 million, started with profit‑first consumer apps in Ukraine, pivoted to an AI‑first entertainment platform, and now serves more than 100 million users with AI‑generated movies, comics, and short dramas.

Key insights emerged around product philosophy and growth tactics. Runway emphasizes long‑term vision paired with short‑term execution, iterating on each generation of models and forming “tiger teams” to tailor solutions for Hollywood studios or robotics labs. Holy Water’s strategy hinges on rapid pivots, launching lean internal founder‑teams that can build, test, and monetize new consumer experiences within weeks, leveraging AI to lower creative barriers. Both companies stress small, focused teams to avoid idea overload and to maintain conviction in product‑market fit.

Notable examples include Anastasis’s description of video models evolving into world‑simulation tools that could power autonomous systems, and Anatoli’s recounting of three critical pivots that doubled Holy Water’s growth year‑over‑year. Runway’s shift from pure video generation to physics‑aware simulation illustrates a broader ambition to serve industrial AI, while Holy Water’s distribution model mirrors platforms like Roblox, enabling user‑generated content at massive scale.

The implications are profound: AI video is moving beyond artistic novelty into core infrastructure for entertainment, advertising, gaming, and physical AI. Companies that can marry cutting‑edge generative models with adaptable go‑to‑market structures are poised to capture new revenue streams, reshape content creation economics, and attract cross‑industry venture capital.

Original Description

Runway began within art school, with a sparse network and little investor insight into AI video. HolyWater Tech started in Kyiv with no venture capital, and a mandate to be profitable from day one.

Seven years later, both have succeeded in disrupting, and putting some level of fear in, creative industries worldwide. At this StrictlyVC Athens 2026 discussion, host and TechCrunch Editor-in-Chief Connie Loizos brought both on stage to get the inside story of how these two breakout companies actually broke out.

Featuring:

Anastasis Germanidis: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Runway

Anatolii Kasianov: Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Holy Water Tech

Recorded live at StrictlyVC Athens 2026, presented in partnership with Endeavor Greece.