W
hen Victor Perez was eighteen, he faced a crucial decision: study classical guitar at a Spanish music conservatory, or enroll in university to study technology. The Barcelona native decided to merge both interests by studying audiovisual systems engineering at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. At school, Perez dove into academic research on AI—and sparked the idea for Krea, his creative tools software platform that lets anyone generate professional-level art (Think: photo, video, and graphic design).
Launched in 2022 with cofounder Diego Rodriguez Prado, 29, Krea is now backed by $83 million from investors like Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Abstract Ventures.
“It was not that I saw a problem and started a company to fix it. Everything was kind of chaotic and kind of serendipitous at first,” says Perez, now 28. “I got really interested in AI and coding coming from a creative background, and there was a small movement of people growing, especially on Twitter, who were researching how to do creative stuff with AI.”
Perez and Prado are emblematic of the young leaders in the media industry today. This year’s 30 Under 30 Media list honorees are using technology to make old media new again, creating their own content and democratizing access to news.
