Obello Raises $8.5M To Accelerate AI-Driven Creative Production
Obello, a San Francisco-based AI graphic design platform, closed an $8.5 million seed round led by Obvious Ventures, with participation from Baukunst, AVV, and Preview Ventures. Total funding to date is now $9.5 million.
Founded by Ben Pham and Ollie Ralph-the team behind the award-winning agency Character (acquired by Dentsu)-Obello is built for brands that need consistent, on-brand creative across a growing list of channels without burying teams in repetitive production work.
What they built: GLAM at the core
At the center of Obello is the Generative Layout Assistant Model (GLAM). Obello says GLAM is the only AI engine that can do intelligent one-click resizing and adaptive design while preserving layout hierarchy and brand rules across formats.
Rather than force work into rigid templates, GLAM dynamically adapts layouts using your uploaded brand assets and guardrails. The platform blends generative text and images with motion and workflow automation, so teams can move faster without drifting off-brand.
There's also an AI-driven HTML email builder that replaces static templates with responsive, on-brand layouts that adapt intelligently across devices.
- Upload brand assets and define rules once; automate production across sizes and channels.
- Adaptive layouts maintain hierarchy and consistency, not just "shrink to fit."
- Motion and workflow features ship content to review faster, so teams can focus on higher-value work.
Who's using it
Obello serves mid-sized enterprise customers including eBay, REI, ZenBusiness, OSEA, Ritual, Whisker, Fetch, Stasher, Thistle, Output, and Qonta. The company plans to extend offerings to creative agencies next.
Funding focus and roadmap
The new capital will go toward product development and go-to-market expansion. Priorities include advanced AI image and video generation that lets brands produce on-brand creative from a single prompt, plus deeper integrations with leading design and marketing tools for mid-market and enterprise teams.
Why this matters for creatives and product development
- Fewer production bottlenecks: scale variant creation without burning cycles on manual resizing and reformatting.
- Brand governance baked in: rules-driven automation helps reduce off-brand assets and rework.
- Faster iteration: ship campaigns and experiments sooner while reserving time for concepting and strategy.
- Email gets easier: responsive, on-brand emails without wrestling template constraints.
Key quotes
"Brands today are expected to show up everywhere, all the time, across countless channels while staying true to strict brand guidelines. This funding enables us to scale our platform so design and marketing teams can create and manage on-brand content at speed and scale, without sacrificing quality or creativity, ultimately helping brands grow faster and connect more meaningfully with their audiences." Ben Pham, Co-Founder and CEO of Obello
"AI isn't here to replace creative teams, it's here to amplify their impact. With Obello, designers and marketers can spend less time on repetitive production tasks and more time on the strategic, high-value work that moves brands forward." Ollie Ralph, Co-Founder of Obello
"Obello is tackling one of the biggest challenges brands face today, scaling across a fragmented marketing landscape without losing their identity. Ben and Ollie bring a rare mix of creative expertise and operational insight, and we believe their vision positions Obello to become the defining AI platform to deliver generative design for high-growth companies." James Joaquin, Co-Founder of Obvious Ventures
Practical next steps for your team
- Pick one campaign and pilot: define guardrails (type, spacing, logo rules), then compare time-to-ship and brand accuracy vs. current tools.
- Prep your design system: centralize tokens, brand assets, and usage rules so automation has clean inputs.
- Set review gates: approve variants in batches; enforce naming, metadata, and asset lifespan to prevent drift.
- Plug into your email workflow: test the AI email builder on a lifecycle sequence (welcome or promo) and track render accuracy and CTR.
- Measure what matters: track time saved per asset, revision rate, channel coverage, and lift in creative throughput.
Level up your AI workflow
If you're upskilling creatives or marketers on practical AI, explore this resource: AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.
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