Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corp., speaks at the Future Decoded Tech Summit in Bengaluru, India, on Tuesday, February 25, 2020. Microsoft will open a new region of data centers in Spain, expanding its strategic partnership with Telefónica SA , according to the statement from Telefonica.
Photographer: Samyukta Lakshmi / Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft said Tuesday it acquired Clipchamp, a start-up with software that consumers and corporate workers can use to edit videos. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The technology joins Microsoft’s effort for years to expand its productivity software offering for both individuals and corporate users. When Microsoft announced the upcoming price increases for its Office 365 subscriptions in August, it noted additions to the package, including the Teams communication app.
While Clipchamp offers a Windows application, part of the power of the service is its ability to leverage online computing resources.
Clipchamp’s technical approach is to combine the simplicity of a web application with the ability to process video using the full computing power of a PC with accelerated graphics processing unit (GPU), which was formerly limited to traditional video applications, ”Chris Pratley, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office Media Group, wrote in a blog post.
Clipchamp’s services are not yet available through a Microsoft licensing program, a Microsoft spokesman told CNBC by email.
“As we move forward in integration planning, we will have a process in place to eventually turn Clipchamp users / customers into Microsoft subscribers,” the spokesman said.
Clipchamp was founded in 2013, is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, and has 92 employees, according to LinkedIn data. Investors include Ten13 and Tola Capital.
In July, Clipchamp said it had 17 million registered users, with the adoption of more than 390,000 companies, 54% more than the previous year. The Clipchamp website says Deloitte, Google, Microsoft and Zendesk are some of the companies that use their software.
The start-up reported a 140% growth in exports in relation to 9:16 aspect ratio, which works with Instagram Stories from Facebook and TikTok. People also used Clipchamp to record screen and record with webcam. As the pandemic continued in the second quarter, Facebook said it had 3.51 million monthly users from its app family, 12% more than the previous year.
The announcement comes three weeks after Adobe said it was acquiring Frame.io, whose software allows people to comment on videos during the editing process, for $ 1.275 billion. Microsoft itself has already shown interest in the video, as it participated in talks last year to acquire TikTok operations in the United States. TikTok ended up deciding not to go ahead with this deal. And in 2018 Microsoft acquired Flipgrid, an education-oriented video start-up.
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