Saint John-based Versos AI has launched its Video Library Intelligence Platform, and announced its partnership with and strategic investment from CuriosityStream of Silver Springs, MD.

Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Chris Keevill, Versos AI has developed its platform to help the owners of video content licence their libraries out to AI model trainers and hyperscalers. The goal is to produce a massive library of ethically sourced video that can be used to train AI models.

Versos already works with more than 20 studios and content owners across seven countries and represents over 1 million hours of professional video content. Its strategic relationship with CuriosityStream is a key milestone because the U.S. company already works with most of the largest AI model trainers and hyperscalers in the world.

“This is the validation of the ever-sought-after, so-called product-market fit,” said CEO Keevill in a phone interview from London, where he is attending the MIP London conference. “This platform solves a huge problem for the rights-holders.”

The Saint John company is at the centre of an industry that didn’t exist a year ago. The stampede of new AI-driven products is creating a huge demand for video content, needed to train artificial intelligence algorithms. Yet the common practice of “scraping” video content from the internet is resulting in a wave of litigation, in which the owners of the video rights are defending their intellectual property.

Keevill said end-users of AI-generated content are starting to demand that the content has been ethically sourced. The example he uses is the hypothetical instance of a global cosmetics company developing an ad campaign with an AI-generated video of a woman applying lipstick. The cosmetics company’s lawyers won’t sign off on the ads until they are satisfied the film has been ethically sourced.

That’s where Versos AI comes in.

The company has already signed up more than 20 rights-owners and is in discussions with about thirty others. These clients and potential clients, which hail from North America, China, the Middle East and Europe, are interested in using the Video Library Intelligence Platform to analyze, organize, package and deliver video data at scale, and establish a chain of custody for the content. Versos works with the suppliers of the content while its partner CuriosityStream – a Nasdaq-listed company founded by John Hendricks, who previously launched the Discovery Channel – sells the content on to the AI model trainers.

CuriosityStream has made a strategic investment in Versos – the amount is not being disclosed – as part of the $1.85 million seed round that Versos announced last month.

“We’re seeing extraordinary demand from major hyperscalers, AI innovators and tech leaders who recognize that high-quality, structured video and metadata are essential to training more capable, and context-rich models,” said CuriosityStream CEO Clint Stinchcomb in a statement. “Our extensive library, combined with the Versos AI best-in-class delivery and indexing capabilities, helps position CuriosityStream as the leading provider for next-generation AI models.”

Versos and CuriosityStream are attending MIP London, a leading TV market gathering, to launch the new platform. Keevill is speaking at the event, as is the head of Austin, Tx.-based Troveo, one of its major competitors.

Keevill said his company’s priority in 2026 will be to sign up more rights holders, and he will also be working on raising more capital, now that the investment from CuriosityStream is in the bank.

“This closes our seed round,” he said. “And like any good startup, the day after you close your seed round you start opening your series A and that’s where we’re going.”