ValkaAI is a Prague-founded AI company developing real-time, interactive AI video technology that turns AI avatars into lifelike, conversational personas capable of live, personalized interaction. Established in 2026 by Vlastimil Venclik and Milos Lokajicek, ValkaAI aims to solve the latency and realism problems that have limited interactive avatar experiences, enabling avatars that respond naturally in real time rather than through pre-rendered or laggy outputs.
The company is pursuing real-time interactive video as a distinct technical frontier, building the core platform and computational infrastructure needed to make lifelike AI personas viable for live use. Its initial commercial focus is on sports and esports, where personalized, interactive AI characters can engage audiences during live events, an area informed by co-founder Venclik's prior experience scaling Oddin.gg and Hodei, esports predictive technology and data infrastructure businesses. The team of roughly 45 people spans San Francisco, Prague, and Dubai and includes researchers from Meta and DeepMind.
ValkaAI raised a 12 million euro pre-seed round led by Rockaway Ventures, with participation from J&T Ventures, Tensor Ventures, BD Partners, Fond Nase Cesko, and individual investor Petr Zamecnik. The round, the company's first external capital, ranks among the largest pre-seed financings in Central and Eastern Europe and funds expansion of research and product teams across the US, Europe, and the UAE, scaling of compute infrastructure, and first commercial pilot integrations.
ValkaAI's bet mirrors a broader industry shift toward interactive, responsive AI video, where avatars become participants in live experiences rather than static talking heads. By concentrating on real-time performance and targeting high-engagement verticals like sports and esports first, ValkaAI aims to establish a defensible position in interactive AI video, then expand its platform to broader enterprise and entertainment use cases as the technology and infrastructure mature.