AI startup Visko closes $10 million pre-seed round and launches Orbis, its first Live Model

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

Iron ore terminal with an estimated investment of R$ 3.6 billion is expected to generate up to 3,000 jobs at the peak of construction.

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Oct. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedro Participações received approval on Tuesday (October 13) from the State Environmental Control Commission (CECA) for the issuance of the Integrated Environmental License (LAI) for the development of Porto do Meio, an iron ore terminal that the company will build at the Port of Itaguaí, in the Greater Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area.

The decision represents the project's most significant milestone to date. With the successful completion of the environmental licensing process—a widely recognized rigorous and decisive stage for port and infrastructure projects in Brazil—Cedro has obtained confirmation of the terminal's environmental feasibility and fulfilled the necessary conditions to advance to the next phases of the project. This achievement reinforces the company's commitment to developing projects that comply with the most stringent environmental and regulatory standards.

In this initial phase, the license covers the handling of a volume of less than 15 million tonnes per year.

In December 2024, Cedro won the federal auction for the area identified as ITG02 and signed a lease agreement for a 35-year term, renewable for an additional equal period.

"Porto do Meio is not just a project for the next three or five years, but a strategic transformation vector for the coming decades that will significantly increase the competitiveness of the mineral industry in Brazil," states Lucas Kallas, Chairman of Cedro International, part of Cedro Participações.

"This project reflects our vision for the coming years in Brazil's port and mining sectors. We have targets to expand our iron ore production, and the terminal is essential to our growth plan through the beginning of the next decade, giving Cedro independence in iron ore exports," adds José Carlos Martins, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cedro Participações.

Located between Vale's and CSN's terminals in Itaguaí—a position that inspired its name—Porto do Meio will occupy an area of approximately 250,000 square meters, including a stockyard and a berthing facility for vessels requiring water depths of up to 20 meters. The terminal will be connected to the MRS Logística rail network, which links the Iron Quadrangle in Minas Gerais to the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, creating a new corridor for iron ore transportation.

The construction works are expected to take three years and will include civil engineering, dredging, the supply and installation of port equipment, and electromechanical assembly. At the peak of construction, the project is expected to generate approximately 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. Once operational, the terminal will directly employ 256 people and is estimated to generate R$ 1.2 billion in municipal tax revenue.

Designed to accommodate Cedro's production, the terminal will also be open to third parties. As a result, mid-sized mining companies that currently rely on terminals operated by large groups or trading companies to export through Itaguaí will gain direct access to international markets. This means fewer intermediaries, long-term contracts, and greater predictability, as well as competitive logistics costs thanks to the terminal's proximity to the Iron Quadrangle and its rail connections.

About Cedro

Founded in 2018, Cedro Participações is a Brazilian holding company headquartered in Minas Gerais, with operations in iron ore mining, logistics infrastructure, and agribusiness. The company is implementing an investment plan aimed at reaching an annual production capacity of 20 million tonnes of iron ore by 2032, with a focus on high-grade pellet feed.

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Cedro Participações Secures Approval for the Issuance of the Environmental License for Porto do Meio in Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro