Web Video Creator Animoto Grabs $25 Million
The venture capital community is getting hip to the fact that web video is taking off in a big way. Last year, YouTube announced that 24 hours of video was uploaded to their site every minute. Just recently, they announced the number has doubled to 48 hours of video uploaded every minute. With that kind of volume, there is money to be made and businesses to be launched.
The latest example of investment in web video is Animoto. The company has raised $25 million led by Spectrum Equity Investors with participation from existing investors Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com. The Daily Start-Up: Animoto In Motion With $25M For Cool Videos Animoto is a web video creation service that is going after both personal users and business users. Essentially, the company offers a simple to use online video slideshow creator. If you own a MAC, you probably don’t need Animoto because MACs already come with easy to use slideshow software (iPhoto) that creates beautiful, compelling slideshows. However, Animoto is great for someone who doesn’t want to mess with new software but wants to easily convert their photos into visually interesting videos. The freemium service allows anyone to use the service to create videos up to 30 seconds in lenth. If you want to create longer web videos or if you want to use commercial music it will cost you.
The business offering (Animoto Pro) might not be quite right for some businesses but it is a great option for businesses that already have a stock pile of beautiful photos. For restaurants and real estate firms that want to start testing the web video waters, the price is right at only $39 per month. (SHAMELESS PLUG – If your restaurant wants a real live video made with real video production equipment created just for you check out our restaurant video page)
Anumoto describes themselves this way on their website, “In the works since 2005, Animoto was founded to help people better share their stories and express themselves through online media by innovating technologies in the field of video production. Using the latest in entertainment post-production technologies, Animoto is designed to bridge the gap between the high production value of film and television, and the more “amateur” feeling of most user-created videos and photo albums.”
While not for everyone, Animoto can help create beautiful web videos in minutes. The same sort of “slideshow web video” of lesser quality would have required a web developer and thousands of dollars in the not so distant past. As we start to see new versions of web video become available, we can expect to see that YouTube upload number continue to increase. As always, at Rewatchable we are excited to see web video being used in more and more innovative and powerful ways.
Rewatchable – Boston Area Videographers
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