Meet Prodia The Engine Behind Your AI Images
You might not recognize the name Prodia, but if you have created an AI image, there is a good chance their technology was involved. This innovative company is playing a crucial role in the rapidly expanding AI-driven content landscape.
The Unseen Engine of AI Image Creation
Led by co-founder and CEO Mikhail Avady, this Atlanta-based startup has quickly become a preferred platform for a wide range of photo editors and digital creators. Prodia's distributed network of GPUs and its API solution empower other platforms to seamlessly integrate generative AI capabilities into their own applications.
Building Prodia: Growth and Strategy
Prodia operates within the significant and expanding generative AI market, a sector that exceeded $25.6 billion in 2024.
This strategic focus has yielded impressive early results. According to Avady, photo editors represent Prodia's core clientele. In its initial month of operation, users generated over 100 million workflows through Prodia. As the company continues to scale in 2025, it has achieved a significant milestone: seven-figure Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).
Prodia's innovative technology and rapid growth have captured the attention of investors. In the summer of 2024, the team successfully raised a $15 million seed round. This funding was led by San Francisco-based Dragonfly Capital Partners, with participation from Southeast-based investors such as Jermaine Brown and Southern Equity.
Avady acknowledges that competitors in the AI infrastructure space for generative media have secured larger funding rounds. However, Prodia's strategy diverges from a capital-at-all-costs approach. Instead, the company has focused on scaling by prioritizing what Avady identifies as the three core customer concerns: Quality, latency, and price.
Atlanta Roots Fueling Global Innovation
Although Prodia's team is globally distributed, its origins are firmly planted in Atlanta's vibrant tech and startup ecosystem. Avady transitioned into the startup world after gaining experience at Atlanta companies like First Data Corporation and Scientific Leads. His immersion into generative AI began during his tenure at Voxie, an Atlanta-based text marketing platform, where he became an early adopter of generative AI chatbots.
Key figures joining Avady in Prodia's early days were co-founders Shawn Wilkinson, previously the founder and CSO of Atlanta's decentralized cloud storage firm Storj, and Monty Anderson, who also hailed from Storj as a software engineer.
Prodia stands among a select yet expanding group of Atlanta startups focused on developing infrastructure for digital creative endeavors. Another notable company in this space is Invoke, an "AI canvas" designed to assist creatives in constructing their own generative models.
