Frame.io, the collaboration platform for the video industry, has today announced the close of a $20 million Series B funding round led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from existing investors including Accel Partners, SignalFire and Shasta Ventures.
Frame.io launched on to the scene back in March of 2015. The company solved a growing problem with a seemingly obvious solution.
People who make video have a really hard time collaborating.
Take, for instance, a brand that is making a TV commercial. The brand relays their vision to an advertising team, who builds out a story board, and then hands off the project to a production company. After the initial draft is edited, that video goes back to the advertising agency to get initial notes and feedback. After a second or third round of edits, that video goes to the brand for their thoughts.
Throughout the entire process, dozens of people are weighing in on the video. And yet, most of that communication is relaying timestamps and trying to describe your own feedback on a moving piece of content.
Frame.io lets all the people involved in the video creation, from the editors to the producers, directors, and external collaborators comment on and mark up this video, which is quickly shareable via a web link.
Founder and CEO Emery Wells says that the long-term goal is to become the Slack of video. The company now has 370,000 users who have signed up, and has grown the team to 40 people, with $32 million in total funding. In fact, Frame.io sees more than 700,000 videos uploaded each month for review.
Wells focus with Frame.io has always been professional freelance video makers, people he says that are in the “business of film”. Moving forward, Frame.io wants to double down on these customers, developing their security tools to the point where big studios and content producers feel comfortable sharing rough cuts of popular shows and movies on their platform.
Frame.io also has an iPhone app, which won an Apple Design Award back in 2016. Wells says it’s used on a regular basis, not by editors or videographers to upload videos but rather by producers and directors to give feedback on the go.
In the past year, Frame.io has released a fully enterprise product that is meant for larger teams. Wells says that 70 percent of the business comes from the self-serve product, but the rest is comprised of bigger clients, including Turner Broadcasting, Vice, Spotify, Buzzfeed and Funny or Die.
The enterprise product puts a huge focus on security and identity-based access, as well as the ability for an admin to create various groups or sub-teams that are customizable based on the project and the people involved. The enterprise product costs $25/seat, with options for more expensive storage deals if needed.
The funding will go towards further investment in security across the board, continued development of the product, and filling out a sales and marketing team.
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