A91 Partners-backed VideoVerse, a video editing platform, has bought AI-based design system Optikka for an undisclosed sum, marking its second acquisition this year.
The deal will help VideoVerse expand its media, design, and publishing capabilities for sports, news, and entertainment within its real-time content automation platform, Magnifi.ai, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We’re focused on building best-in-class content automation services across sports, news and entertainment. Obviously, graphics are an essential component to these workflows,” said Prateek Sharma, who was recently appointed chief strategy officer at VideoVerse.“This is the first step in evolving Magnifi from a point solution to a post-production automation platform.”
The acquisition adds two key executives – Charles Duncan and Nick Arciero – to VideoVerse’s team. Duncan and Arciero, who have previously worked in several divisions of Disney, worked together to build Optikka.
“With generative AI moving at warp speed, we’ve been looking for the right team to harness that power and we believe we’ve found that in Charles and Nick,” Prateek added.
Founded in 2016 by Vinayak Shrivastav, Saket Dandotia, and Alok Patil, VideoVerse, formerly known as Toch.ai, uses artificial intelligence to process video content including live sport, television shows and library-based content.
In April the startup bought Reely.ai, an AI-based content creation and social media distribution company, to improve its capabilities in gaming and esports.
VideoVerse plans to use Optikka’s capabilities across video, broadcast, XR, and metaverse platforms. It offers a post-production compositing engine for graphic design with GPT integrations. “With no-code and low-code toolsets, our tech can transform how commercial content owners and broadcasters create fully branded, internet-breaking content for their audiences in real time,” Duncan said.
The company last raised $46.8 million (about ₹355.6 crore) in a Series B round led by A91 Partners, Alpha Wave Global and Flipkart Founder Binny Bansal in April 2022. Prior to that it raised $11.7 million in a Series A round from Moneta Ventures, Baring Private Equity India, Binny Bansal, Ventureast, 9Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Cathexis Ventures, SOSV, Artesian and Innoven Capital in October 2021.
