“Robin Rombach is known to be an absolute expert at image diffusion models and when you have someone that smart and proven in a brand new space, it makes it obvious one should invest if given the chance,” one of the company’s investors told TechCrunch.

It’s not completely clear yet who is investing in the Freiburg, Germany-based startup’s latest round. One source mentioned that Lightspeed — one of the more prolific investors in AI in Europe, backing Helsing, Mistral, Stability AI and others — might be involved. Lightspeed has not yet responded to a request for comment, and neither has Black Forest itself. (We will update the post if they do.)