creators

Cristóbal Valenzuela — co-CEO of Runway

Cristóbal Valenzuela co-founded Runway in 2018 and is its co-CEO. The AI video company raised $315 million at a $5.3 billion valuation in February 2026.

Cristóbal Valenzuela is a Chilean technologist based in New York. He studied at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile — a business and economics degree and a master's in arts and design, taken in 2012 — and took an MPS from NYU Tisch's Interactive Telecommunications Program in 2018, where Runway began as a thesis project. He has contributed to the open-source creative-coding library ml5.js. He co-founded Runway in Brooklyn in 2018 with Anastasis Germanidis and Alejandro Matamala and ran it as CEO. On 26 February 2026 the company announced that Germanidis was stepping into the role of co-CEO alongside him, with Kamil Sindi as chief technology officer, Michelle Kwon as chief operating officer, Anna Chalon as chief people officer and Jamie Umpherson as chief creative officer. Runway's Gen-series video models are used across film and television, and its Hundred Film Fund gives grants to filmmakers working with them. In February 2026 the company raised $315 million led by General Atlantic at a $5.3 billion valuation. TIME named him to its first 100 Most Influential People in AI list in September 2023 and to TIME100 Next in September 2025; NYU Tisch honoured him at its 2026 gala.

Specialization

generative video, AI for filmmaking, creative tools

Country

United States