Microsoft snares fast-growing Brisbane video editing startup Clipchamp

Microsoft snares fast-growing Brisbane video editing startup Clipchamp

Clipchamp co-founder Alexander Dreiling.

Rapidly growing Brisbane-based video editing software startup Clipchamp, a company founded in 2013 and more recently backed by Shark Tank's Steve Baxter, has been snapped up by global tech giant Microsoft in a quickfire win for the company’s investors.

The buyout will see Clipchamp rolled into the Microsoft 365 division after a year of strong growth for the company which earlier this year revealed a 160 per cent increase in registered users to a total of 14 million globally. This shot up to 17 million users by July, servicing 390,000 companies, adding to its appeal for the US tech giant.

Baxter made a $1 million investment in Clipchamp in 2019 as part of a seed round and followed this up with a bigger bite in 2020 through a $13.2 million raising. This round also drew the interest of other high-profile investors including iiNet founder Michael Malone and PPK Group’s (ASX: PPK) Robin Levison.

Financial details of the acquisition by Microsoft have not been disclosed.

Clipchamp attracted an average of 15,000 new users a day over 2020, led by small and medium-sized enterprises, corporate majors and influencers keen to hook into the company’s in-browser video creation platform.

The company’s key platform, Clipchamp Create, launched in 2018, allows for sophisticated editing of videos including special effects and green screen capabilities.

Clipchamp, founded by Alexander Dreiling, Sören Balko, David Hewitt and Tobi Raub, has described itself as a ‘natural fit’ for Microsoft 365.

“It’s also a great fit for Microsoft Windows, which is a platform for boundless creativity,” says Dreiling, the Clipchamp CEO.

“Our mission is to empower anyone to tell stories worth sharing and millions of people around the world are using Clipchamp to create videos and tell their stories,” he says.

“And we are far from done. We have achieved a lot to date, and we are incredibly excited about what the future holds for us.”

Dreiling says Microsoft provides Clipchamp with the scope to grow further.

“Becoming part of Microsoft allows us to become part of a future legacy. Under no other scenario could our future look more exciting than what’s ahead of us now.”

Chris Pratley, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office Media Group sees significant potential in Clipchamp’s template-driven platform.

“We’ll be doing incredible things together,” he says.

“As a web app that uses the full power of your PC, Clipchamp is a natural fit to extend the cloud-powered productivity experiences in Microsoft 365 for individuals, families, schools, and businesses. 

“Small business owners, marketers, influencers, students, educators, families, and information workers of all types need the capability to make great videos with minimal effort.”

The acquisition by Microsoft follows a partnership struck with Clipchamp earlier this year that led to the company launching a Clipchamp App for Windows.

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