Clipto uses AI to search terabytes of video and is now valued at $250M
The three-year-old startup says it reached $15 million in ARR and profitability before raising its latest $15 million round.
TL;DR
- Clipto uses AI to make video, audio, images, and documents searchable.
- The startup raised $15 million at a $250 million post-money valuation from investors including HSG (formerly Sequoia China) and GL Ventures.
- Clipto indexes files on a user's computer, allowing searches via natural language descriptions or AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
- Founder Henry Kang has a two-decade history of working on related AI and data management problems.
- The company observed that the AI era has created a content overload, necessitating tools to manage existing files.
- Clipto's user base has expanded beyond video creators to include lawyers, doctors, researchers, and more.
- The company reports over 30 million users and hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers.
- Clipto achieved $15 million in annual recurring revenue and profitability prior to this funding round.
- The product supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI application integration, with all processing running locally on the user's device.
- Clipto aims to compete with larger companies like Adobe, Apple, and Google by offering a unified search solution across various file types and services.
- The new funding will support AI models, computing infrastructure, and integrations with AI agents.