Vidmaker
Collaborative online video editor that makes it easy to work with video anywhere and with anyone.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Vidmaker, founded in 2011 by Ryan Bolyard and Yuri Zapuchlak, emerged from the Madison, Wisconsin tech scene to offer a cloud-based, collaborative video editing platform. The founders, both University of Wisconsin-Madison computer science graduates, leveraged their backgrounds in software engineering, including roles at Sony Creative Software, to address the complexities of video collaboration. Dale Emmons later joined as CEO.
The company's core offering was a browser-based video editor designed to simplify video management, editing, and real-time collaboration. Drawing parallels to Google Docs for text and GitHub for code, Vidmaker enabled multiple users to work on video projects simultaneously, from any device. The platform allowed users to import video, images, and audio from cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive. This model catered to a market needing accessible and collaborative video creation tools without expensive hardware. The business model included free accounts for users sharing content publicly under creative commons licenses and paid subscription tiers for private storage and projects.
Vidmaker's journey included participation in the TechStars Cloud accelerator program in San Antonio, which helped refine its platform and business strategy. The startup secured approximately $652K in funding over two seed rounds from investors including Techstars, Cloud Power Capital, and Right Side Capital Management. This financial backing supported the development of its real-time editing and project management features. In a significant milestone, Vidmaker was acquired by YouTube in December 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, the Vidmaker team joined YouTube to continue their work on a larger scale, and the Vidmaker service was discontinued in early 2015.
Keywords: cloud video editor, collaborative video editing, online video platform, Ryan Bolyard, Yuri Zapuchlak, Dale Emmons, TechStars Cloud, browser-based editor, real-time video collaboration, video project management, social video platform, video sharing, YouTube acquisition, cloud video storage, video management