AI creative tech startup Zero One Creative (01C) has raised €500,000 in funding backed by EWOR, a radically selective fellowship backing the world's top 0.1 per cent founders, built and led by unicorn builders — including the exited founders of SumUp and Adjust.
You can check out our recent interview with Daniel Dippold, founder and CEO of EWOR.
EWOR recently increased their investment sum to €500,000 for traction fellows, which has been granted to 01C, for the first time.
Ex-Warner Bros., RAF technician, and Disney veteran team up to launch Zero One
Zero One was founded by Ashkan Dabbagh, James Elkin, and Rupert Aspden, a team combining deep expertise in AI, film, visual effects, and immersive media.
Dabbagh studied AI at Oxford and has built a career in technical roles at Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios. He also served as a production manager at DNEG, the visual FX firm behind Interstellar and Dune.
Elkin brings a unique background, having spent seven years as a senior aircraft technician in the Royal Air Force before transitioning into Visual Effects, where he has worked on projects for Sky, BBC, and Netflix.
Aspden’s career spans production and operations across BBC, Disney, Amazon, and 20th Century Fox.
The promise of scalable storytelling through unified, AI-driven production tools
The creative industries are facing a serious bottleneck. Today’s storytellers, whether in games, animation, or immersive media, are slowed by fragmented workflows, constant reformatting, and incompatible platforms.
Even the most compelling ideas get trapped in technical silos, draining budgets and momentum.
AMARA is 01C’s response to this problem.
The platform allows creators to ideate, build, and deploy across multiple media through one unified intelligent interface. Its AI-powered backend handles optimisation and format adaptation, The result is faster execution, scalable storytelling, and radically restored creative momentum with a human-centric approach.
According to Ashkan Dabbagh, CEO of Zero One Creative, creative flow is the most valuable currency in any production.
“When you lose it to the fragmentation of the current tools landscape, you lose the magic. AMARA was built to protect that flow so creators can move from idea to execution without breaking rhythm.”
Zero One’s AMARA went viral before it even launched publicly
Before launching its platform to the public, AMARA was used internally for creating over 10 viral campaigns and featured on projects including for McLaren, eBay, Twix, Starcloud, with over 40 million views. All growth was achieved organically through word of mouth and returning customers.
Zero One Creative has also earned recognition across top-tier startup programs. The company is a finalist in Oxford University’s OX1 Incubator (top 1 per cent of 140 startups), winner of the 2024 Oxbridge AI Challenge (competing with 200+ startups from Oxford and Cambridge University), and is supported by Microsoft for Startups, Google for Startups, and the NVIDIA Inception Program.
Lead image: Zero One Creative. Photo: uncredited.
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