Cloud video editing service Magisto on Tuesday announced it has received $5.5 million in second-round funding, with the intention of automating the painstaking editing process for the masses.
“Video editing is not just challenging for 99% of people, it’s a barrier,” Magisto CEO Oren Boiman explained in an interview. “We’re the first company to make automated video editing into an easy-to-use service.”
The funding round was led by superstar Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing‘s Horizon Ventures, along with participation from Magma Venture Partners. Magma originally funded Magisto’s first round with undisclosed terms. Boiman deems Li Ka-shing’s investment very crucial for the company to move towards excelling future.
Magisto’s free service automates the video editing process for newbies, making it possible for people to submit video clips to the service and let it do the work of cutting the video in an interesting fashion. Magisto scans the clips for noteworthy action and packages it with tricks like transitions and split-screens. Then users simply give the video a title and pick a soundtrack, and the video is ready to share on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or for e-mailing a friend.
“You don’t want to share a video, you want to share an event,” Boiman said. “We turn your video into something that isn’t boring. Magisto will offer a premium paid version that allows for longer clips. The premium version will also remove Magisto’s branding, allow for video downloading and give the user the ability to tweak the video if they choose”.
Videos on Magisto are edited in less than two minutes. The service has had 2000 users in its closed beta that started in April. Boiman said the response has been extremely positive and he sees users creating an always-accessible clip library of personal events. Even if users don’t widely share a clip, they can come back to the Magisto library to access their clips.
So while Magisto won’t necessarily make your boring video magical, it can help you make a memorable video ready to share in a short amount of time.
Magisto’s iPhone app has also won the “2012 CES Mobile Apps Showdown”. In my opinion, a fabulous service for novices to start editing their home projects.
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