One instruction, 20 seconds, one explanatory video

Lamina Labs' Simi tool converts PDFs and PowerPoints into whiteboard-style animations. A fast alternative for training content.

With Simi, Lamina Labs transforms a prompt, a script, or a document into an animated explainer video. The service takes care of writing the script, creating the illustrations, organizing their appearance on screen, adding a narration, and delivering a finalized sequence. The rendering mainly adopts a whiteboard aesthetic, designed for training, onboarding, product demonstrations, or educational content.

According to the company, a one-minute video can be produced in about twenty seconds in the fastest configuration. The product page indicates closer to 40 seconds for a standard generation. Simi supports over 80 languages and can produce formats ranging from a short clip to much longer content, depending on the plan used.

The tool accepts PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Markdown files, or simple text prompts. It remains accessible via an interface, but also through an API, Python or Node SDKs, and an MCP server. This openness allows an assistant or third-party software to directly request a video explanation, in the same way it would request a written response today.

The San Francisco-based company was founded by Sudip Rokaya and Kartikesh Mishra, both MIT alumni, and joined Y Combinator's Spring 2026 batch. Link Ventures indicates that Simi had surpassed 190 paying customers thirteen days after its launch.

Lamina Labs raised $4.8 million in a round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Link Ventures and Y Combinator. The funding is intended to support its broader ambition: to build a video generation layer fast enough for AI interfaces to directly explain a topic in images rather than responding solely with text.