Brands
Luma AI raises $900m as Saudi supercluster powers its world-model push
MUMBAI: If AI is the new space race, Luma AI just strapped itself to a rocket. The frontier multimodal intelligence company has announced a $900 million Series C, one of the largest AI raises of the year, led by HUMAIN, the PIF-backed full-stack AI powerhouse alongside AMD Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Amplify Partners, and Matrix Partners. The announcement, made in Washington, D.C. during the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum, signals a dramatic leap forward in the race to build AI that doesn’t just reason or respond, but understands and operates within the physical world.
At the heart of this partnership lies Project Halo, HUMAIN’s upcoming 2-gigawatt AI supercluster in Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most ambitious compute infrastructure buildouts. Luma AI will become a flagship customer, tapping into Halo’s colossal computational muscle to train its next-generation “world models”, capable of learning from video, image, audio, and language at unprecedented scale.
Luma AI CEO and co-founder Amit Jain framed the moment with characteristic audacity, “To create AI that can help humanity in the physical world… we need systems that can learn from a quadrillion tokens, the digital memory of humanity itself.”
Jain emphasised HUMAIN’s speed of deployment and end-to-end approach as key to achieving the company’s ambitious multimodal roadmap, with the partnership spanning custom models, go-to-market collaboration and frontier-grade deployment.
For HUMAIN, the partnership is as philosophical as it is infrastructural. “We’re not just funding the next wave of AI, we’re building the full value chain that makes it possible,” said CEO Tareq Amin, calling Luma “an exceptional frontier startup” whose research velocity and real-world product chops align with HUMAIN’s global ambitions.
The supercluster will enable training on peta-scale multimodal datasets 1,000 to 10,000 times larger than those used in today’s frontier LLMs. Alongside this, next-generation inference systems will deliver real-time global deployment, an ecosystem designed to simulate, understand, and eventually operate in the physical world.
Luma’s capabilities aren’t theoretical. Its flagship model, Ray3, has already become quietly ubiquitous used by studios, ad agencies, and integrated into Adobe’s global products. The new funding will accelerate Luma’s expansion from entertainment and advertising into high-impact domains such as simulation, robotics, design, and industrial automation.
Luma AI was also the first suite of models to launch under HUMAIN Create, a programme building sovereign AI models for the Arabic-speaking world systems attuned to cultural nuance, linguistic diversity, and regional identity. The new raise gives this initiative significant tailwind as sovereign AI becomes a strategic priority across the Middle East.
With $900 million in fresh fuel, a 2GW supercluster in sight, and a roadmap that aims to learn from humanity’s cumulative digital footprint, Luma AI is positioning itself squarely in the AGI vanguard. The company’s next chapter promises a shift from “generative AI” to reality-scale intelligence models that don’t just create images or text, but simulate the world itself.
In the race to build AI that sees, hears, moves, reasons and interacts like a human, Luma just hit fast-forward.
Brands
Lotus Herbals unveils HydroActivated sunscreen with high-impact campaign
Harnaaz Sandhu fronts digital push spotlighting breakthrough sun care tech
MUMBAI: Lotus Herbals has rolled out a high-decibel marketing campaign to introduce what it calls India’s first hydro-activated sunscreen, aiming to reshape how consumers think about sun protection.
At the centre of the launch is the Safe Sun HydroActivated Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA+++, a formulation built on a patent-pending Hydrosome Technology that activates on contact with moisture. Unlike conventional sunscreens that can weaken with sweat, this product is designed to do the opposite, boosting protection when the skin is exposed to water or perspiration.
The campaign is led by Harnaaz Sandhu and is being amplified across OTT platforms, social media and outdoor locations in key metro cities. The brand film takes a light, relatable approach to everyday sunscreen struggles such as uneven application and fading protection, while positioning the new product as a reliable, high-performance alternative for active lifestyles.
Beyond its core technology, the sunscreen features next-generation UV filters and Edelweiss Flower Extract, offering hydration alongside protection. The formula claims up to 10 hours of water resistance and even, all-round defence against sun exposure and tanning, targeting consumers who want both skincare and performance in one product.
Speaking about the launch, Lotus Herbals chairman and managing director Nitin Passi said, “We are excited to launch India’s first sunscreen with hydroactivated technology which is our most innovative product launch. This isn’t just a sunscreen; it’s a technological breakthrough that utilises a novel manufacturing process. We’ve created a product that stays invisible on the skin yet becomes a performance powerhouse when the user is most active.”
Sharing her experience, Lotus Herbals brand ambassador Harnaaz Sandhu said, “I am thrilled to be associated with Lotus Herbals Safe Sun for their new sun protection campaign. In my world, there is no room for shortcuts, and I need functional and reliable products that work as hard as I do. The hydroactivated sunscreen is a game-changer because it blends with my skin and protects me better when I’m pushing my limits.”
The campaign is being distributed across platforms including JioStar connected TV integrations and ZEE5, along with television placements such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in West Bengal. A large influencer push involving over a thousand creators, along with in-store branding and retail activations, is also part of the rollout.
With a blend of science-led positioning and mass-market storytelling, Lotus Herbals is betting on innovation to stand out in the crowded sun care segment, hoping its moisture-powered promise strikes the right chord with today’s always-on consumers.
