Online video platform Biteable, a startup that makes it easy to create refined and professional video using templates and a library of images and animations, has raised $ 7 million in Series A funding led by Cloud Apps Capital Partners. The service today competes with products from Vimeo, Canva, Adobe and others, but focuses on creating video assets that have more staying power than temporary social videos.
This type of video is more in demand than ever, like the pandemic pushed greater use of video communications - particularly among small businesses, which also helped Biteable grow, the company says.
"[The pandemic] it accelerated the move to video that was already happening, "notes Brent Chudoba, CEO of Biteable, who joined the company late last year." It helped, of course, things like Zoom and products like Loom. We also saw an advantage. I think we will actually see an even greater benefit over time as companies are now used to working and sharing messages remotely and need to become more creative in how they distribute information, "he says.
The startup itself was originally co-founded in 2015 in Hobart, Australia by CTO Tommy Fotak, Simon Westlake and James MacGregor. Fotak's background was in software development, while Westlake had experience in animation and studio production. MacGregor, who has a background in software, products, and marketing and previously worked for BigCommerce, is Biteable's Chief Product Officer.
The team had initially worked on freelance projects for people who needed advertising and explanatory videos, which led them to realize the opportunity in the video creation market. They believed there was a demand for a video creation product that would simplify many of the decisions that needed to be made when making a video. That is, they wanted to do for video creation what Squarespace, Wix, and others did for website creation.
Chudoba most recently joined the company as a result of Biteable's desire to involve a CEO with more experience in growing freemium software productivity businesses. Prior to Biteable, Chudoba worked in private equity, was an early employee of SurveyMonkey (CRO), and also spent time at PicMonkey (COO), Thrive Global (COO and CFO) and Calendly (Head of Business Operations).
While Chudoba admits that Biteable isn't without competition, he considers it a good thing. It means there are opportunities in the market, and it gives Biteable a chance to differentiate itself from others.
On this front, Biteable's customers tell them that the product offers a good balance between the amount of time and skills they have and the quality of the results.
"They can produce results that they are very proud of and that exceed what they thought they could do - not necessarily low effort - but without having the training, skills and design background," says Chudoba.
Above: an explanatory video of Biteable made with BiteableCustomers also appreciate the extensive content library, which includes a combination of archival photographs, archival footage, and hundreds of animations and scenes. Biteable licenses the content of Unsplash and Storyblocks, while its animation library and templates are built in-house by its own professional design team. This allows the company to release hundreds of scenes per month, to keep the library content up to date and current.
Unlike some of the other products on the market, Biteable's sweet spot isn't on "quick hit" social videos, like Instagram Stories, for example. Instead, it focuses on resources that businesses use and reuse, such as video explanations for a company, online marketing and ads, videos that appear on product pages, and more. His videos also tend to run between 30 seconds and 3.5 minutes.
Biteable has already found people from companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Disney, Salesforce, BBC, Shopify, and Samsung who have used its service, although it has no official contracts with these larger companies.
Above: a Biteable recruiting video templateToday, the startup generates revenue via a freemium business model that includes multiple subscription plans.
A free single-user plan gives you access to the suite of video creation tools, including 1.8 million images, clips and animations within the Biteable library. However, the free videos are branded with Biteable. A $ 19 / month single-user plan removes the watermark and lets you add your own, and offers 1080p HD resolution and other features, such as commercial use rights. Professionals pay $ 49 per month for editing and shared projects and are used by unlimited team members and more. Custom pricing plans are also available.
Together, Biteable's free and paid users total over 6 million. They create around 100,000 unique videos a month, and that number has nearly doubled over the course of 2020.
The new $ 7 million round, announced today, was led by new investor Cloud Apps Capital Partners. Existing investor Tank Stream Ventures also returned for the round and was joined by both new and existing angel investors. In total, Biteable has raised over $ 9 million (USD) to date.
With the additional funds, Biteable aims to hire and continue to develop the product.
Another change attributed to the pandemic is that people have moved into remote work. Biteable had already been a first remote operation whose team of 46 is geographically spread across Australia, the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Now, Biteable no longer has to convince people that remote working is the future, and that helps recruit talent as well.
Chudoba believes Biteable can grow into a bigger company over time.
"Video is a platform concept and so I think you can build a really great standalone business," says Chudoba. "We're a freemium model, so it's a low cost of customer acquisition. It's a high-value service and can be very complicated when engaging teams," he notes.
"The power of online video has been incredible, and the events of 2020 have accelerated adoption trends that otherwise would have taken five or more years to evolve," notes Matt Holleran, General Partner of Cloud Apps Capital Partners, in a statement about his company. investment. "As a company, we are looking for large companies in high-growth industries with excellent teams that we can help get to the next level. At Biteable, we see all three of these elements and are incredibly excited to partner with Brent and the Biteable team in this next chapter. of growth, "he says.
