VideoVerse, an AI video editing startup backed by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and venture capital firm A91 Partners, has been acquired by Minute Media, a US-based technology and sports content company that owns brands like Sports Illustrated and The Players’ Tribune.
Minute Media stated that this acquisition will enable the company to offer a fully integrated creation, distribution, and monetisation solution, thereby strengthening its partnerships with top teams, leagues, and federations. In addition, customers of VideoVerse's Magnifi product will gain access to Minute Media's distribution and monetisation solutions for their video assets.
While the terms of the acquisition or the deal size were not disclosed, Minute Media CEO Asaf Peled told TechCrunch that this is the company’s largest acquisition to date. The publication pegged the deal to be in the range of $200 million to $250 million.
“We are thrilled to bring the passionate teams and robust capabilities of VideoVerse into the Minute Media family to bring teams and leagues a full-stack solution from creation to distribution to monetization. In addition, with VideoVerse’s technologies, Minute Media’s owned and operated brands, partners, and clients will experience and have the very best in AI-powered creation,” Peled said in a statement.
Started in 2016 by Vinayak Shrivastav, Saket Dandotia and Alok Patil, VideoVerse has raised $105 million in funding to date. Among its other backers include Alpha Wave Global, Innoven Capital, Pacific Western Bank, Stride Ventures, and Bluestone Equity Partners.
VideoVerse’s flagship product Magnifi enables sports content owners and rights holders to automatically detect key moments, create highlights in real time, and distribute short-form video content efficiently.
The Mumbai and California-headquartered company stated that it uses computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning to analyse visual and audio cues, identify highlights, and enhance video content for sports fans.
The product also integrates GenAI features, including multilingual subtitling, automatic thumbnail generation, and metadata generation, along with dynamic rules-based engine to automate end-to-end processing.
VideoVerse's customers include FIFA, TV2, Portugal Football Federation, Starzplay, Danish Football leagues, Formula E, and Mountain West Conference.
Minute Media also stated that VideoVerse’s technology will drive key enhancements across its offerings, including strengthening the STN Video platform for leagues and publishing partners and driving new formats across its brands such as Sports Illustrated and The Players’ Tribune.
The company says it reaches 200 million monthly users, powering over 1,500 content creators and more than 400 distribution partners across 14 global markets in 10 languages. It also owns sports content brands such as FanSided, and 90min and has offices in New York, London, Tel Aviv, São Paulo.
Minute Media has raised a total of over $260 million in funding to date from backers such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Battery Ventures and was last valued at $1 billion.
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