“Part of a future legacy”: Queensland startup Clipchamp acquired by Microsoft

Queensland video editing startup Clipchamp has been acquired by US$2 trillion international tech goliath Microsoft.

The acquisition follows five years of exponential growth for the startup, which now has some 17 million users around the world.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Founded in 2013 by co-founders Alexander Dreiling, Soeren Balko, David Hewitt and Tobi Raub, Clipchamp is a platform designed to make creating and editing video content easy, and more accessible to non-professionals.

The startup has been on a swift growth trajectory since then. Back in September 2016, it had about 100,000 registered users and 18 months later, that number had leapt to 3.5 million.

In May 2019, Clipchamp secured a $1 million cash injection from entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Steve Baxter. At that time, the startup had about 6.5 million registered users, and its flagship product Create was seeing revenue growth of 20%, month-on-month.

Then, in February 2020, the co-founders raised $13.2 million in Series A funding, in a round led by US VC Tola Capital and including further investment from TEN13 and other existing backers.

At that time, Dreiling told SmartCompany the startup had seen an “astonishing” growth boom, with Create’s revenues up some 500% compared to the previous 12 months and the startup’s headcount tripling. 

Today, the co-founders head up a team of more than 80 people. The number of registered users has grown from 100,000 back in 2016 to about 17 million.

“Kindred spirits”

Clipchamp’s founders were not available for interview, but in a blog post announcing the acquisition, chief executive Alexander Drieling suggested it marks something of a new beginning for the Aussie startup.

“Our mission is to empower anyone to tell stories worth sharing and millions of people around the world are using Clipchamp,” he wrote.

“We are far from done.”

There are several stages of the startup journey, Dreiling said in the post. First, it’s about incorporating and building a business, then hiring early employees. Founders then usually go on to raise funds and scale, before exiting, often through an acquisition or IPO. 

“While an exit event is the end of a startup journey, it is also the beginning of a new journey. In our case that will be a journey under a Microsoft umbrella,” he said. 

Microsoft has a legacy and reach that few other tech companies do, Dreiling added. It’s also an iconic, globally recognisable brand that he and his team grew up with.

“Becoming part of Microsoft allows us to become part of a future legacy,” Dreiling said.

“Under no other scenario could our future look more exciting than what’s ahead of us now.”

In a Microsoft announcement, corporate vice president Chris Pratley said he is “bubbling over with excitement” at the prospect of Clipchamp joining the tech behemoth.

“The Clipchamp team is a creative powerhouse,” he added.

“We welcome them wholeheartedly as kindred spirits. We will be doing incredible things together.”