Orbis streams interactive 4K video at 24 frames per second, responds to user intervention instantly, and sustains hour-scale generation without evident visual or color drift.
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Visko, the AI research company behind Live Models, today announced a $10 million pre-seed round of fundraising and opened public access to Orbis — the foundation model that creates living worlds and streams them in real time, with persistent memory, interactivity, and physics-grounded generation of unbounded length.
Most AI video generators work offline: a user submits a prompt, waits, and receives a finished clip that cannot be changed. Visko's models belong to a class the company calls Live Models — models that run rather than render. Orbis generates video continuously and in real time. Users can change the prompt at any moment during generation and see the update reflected instantly while the video keeps streaming.
According to the company's technical report, Orbis delivers 4K video at 24 frames per second in real time and sustains hour-scale generation without evident quality or color drift. Generation is grounded in physical dynamics: a latent world model scores candidate futures during inference, steering output toward physically plausible motion and object dynamics.
In the report's evaluations, Orbis leads compared real-time and long-video systems on DOVER aesthetic and technical quality and on VideoAlign visual and motion quality, and records the highest overall-preference and temporal-stability ratings in the report's long-form human preference study across eight systems. The report also discloses dimensions where Orbis trails other systems, with full methodology and results published.
"Every real-time system before this faced the same wall: the longer a world runs, the more it falls apart. We built Orbis to hold together — physically, visually and narratively — for as long as you want to stay inside it. Starting today, anyone can see that for themselves at visko.ai," said Qing (Will) Yin, founder and chief executive officer of Visko.
Dr. Michael I. Jordan from UC Berkeley, the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Visko, comments, "Visko is pursuing one of the most ambitious directions in video AI: live, stateful models that continuously perceive, predict, and interact with the world in real time while maintaining physical consistency. Visko delivers a state-of-the-art architecture that has a meaningful technological lead beyond conventional short-clip video generation. The same core capability could support a remarkably broad range of commercial opportunities, from robotics and physical simulation to gaming, live commerce, education, and real-time creative media."
Visko was founded in 2025 by Qing (Will) Yin, a Stanford Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics and Mechanics who spent three years as a researcher at Apple. The company's 16-person team draws from Apple, Google DeepMind, Meta, Amazon, and Tesla, and is advised by Michael I. Jordan of the University of California, Berkeley; Steve WaiChing Sun of Columbia University; and academic partner, Mengye Ren of New York University. Distribution is handled through Visko's partner Reactor.
About Visko
Visko is an AI research company pioneering Live Models — a new class of world models that run rather than render. Where conventional AI video generates a clip and stops, Visko's foundation model, Orbis, simulates a world and streams it live: physics-grounded, interactive, with persistent memory and no fixed length. The company's thesis is that the next paradigm of AI is not a model you call, but a process that runs in step with the world itself. Founded by Stanford Ph.D. and former Apple researcher Qing (Will) Yin, Visko is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has raised $10 million led by Llama Ventures. Learn more at visko.ai.
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AI startup Visko closes $10 million pre-seed round and launches Orbis, its first Live Model
AI startup Visko closes $10 million pre-seed round and launches Orbis, its first Live Model
HONG KONG, Oct. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PhotonPay, a next-generation payment operating system, today announced that it has secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The licence enables PhotonPay to issue electronic money and provide regulated payment services in the UK within the scope of its authorisation. It further strengthens PhotonPay's local capabilities in the market and supports the company in delivering broader payment and treasury solutions for businesses operating globally.
The UK is one of the world's leading financial and commercial hubs, and an important gateway for businesses operating across Europe and international markets. As companies expand into more countries and regions, their financial needs are evolving beyond individual cross-border transactions toward more integrated management of accounts, collections, payouts, foreign exchange, cards and treasury operations.
For PhotonPay, entering a market means more than making products and services available. It requires building a local financial foundation that meets regulatory requirements and can support businesses over the long term. The EMI licence further strengthens PhotonPay's position in the UK and provides an important foundation for deeper connectivity with local banks, payment networks and the broader financial ecosystem.
JP, Global Head of Compliance at PhotonPay, said:
"Securing our UK EMI licence marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of PhotonPay's global regulatory footprint. Building a global payment operating system requires strong local regulatory foundations. This authorisation strengthens our ability to build for the long term in the UK, while supporting our continued expansion across more markets, currencies and payment networks. Ultimately, it enables us to deliver a more complete and efficient payment and treasury experience for businesses operating globally."
As businesses expand internationally, the financial infrastructure behind their operations remains highly fragmented. Different markets operate across distinct account structures, payment networks, currencies and regulatory frameworks, often requiring businesses to manage multiple financial institutions, payment providers and systems at the same time.
PhotonPay is building its next-generation payment operating system around this complexity. Through a unified technology platform, the company connects local financial capabilities across markets, enabling businesses to manage global accounts, collections, payouts, foreign exchange, cards and embedded finance more centrally while reducing the operational complexity created by multiple markets, currencies and systems.
Real commerce is the foundation of this operating system. By continuously expanding its regulatory coverage, banking relationships, payment networks and underlying technology infrastructure, PhotonPay aims to ensure that financial infrastructure can scale alongside a business as it enters new markets and grows internationally.
Since its founding, PhotonPay has continued to expand its global regulatory and local market capabilities through entities across major financial markets. Today, PhotonPay has secured nearly 30 payment licences and related regulatory authorisations worldwide, supporting capabilities across global accounts, collections, payouts, foreign exchange, cards and embedded finance.
The UK EMI licence represents another step in the continued development of PhotonPay's global regulatory network. Looking ahead, PhotonPay will continue to deepen its local regulatory and financial capabilities in key markets, connect more markets, currencies and payment networks, and advance the development of its next-generation global payment operating system.
About PhotonPay
PhotonPay is a next-generation payment operating system designed for businesses operating globally. Across global accounts, collections, payouts, foreign exchange, cards and embedded finance, PhotonPay connects banks, payment networks and local financial infrastructure to help businesses manage global money movement more efficiently and expand into new markets with greater operational simplicity.
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PhotonPay Secures UK EMI Licence, Advancing Its Global Payment Operating System
