Remotion secures capital to simplify programmatic video creation

Creating videos programmatically is a sophisticated process that requires a set of technologies and infrastructure, which are currently time and cost-consuming, and complex. Following his passion for programming and video animations, Jonny Burger, discovered a new approach to creating videos easier than using conventional tools in the market. This year, he and his cofounder incorporated Remotion to provide better solutions to a broader mass.

The startup developed a source-available GitHub project that allows developers to create videos by writing React code. Individual end users can use the platform for free while companies must subscribe to a license. 

“I have used different video creation platforms, but none allowed me to create videos based on code, and the generic approach was lacking. With Remotion we close this gap. Developers can create any type of video or app for their end users. They can also use the available tools on Remotion to import their footage to add interactive aspects and visuals,” explains Jonny.

Since its launch, it has accumulated over a quarter of a million downloads, 14’000 GitHub stars and seen two major new versions which brought the ability to embed interactive videos in the browser and render videos at scale in the cloud. The startup has also built a Discord community which today comprises over 1500 developers that regularly exchange expertise and jointly solve problems on Remotion.

Remotion is already generating revenues thanks to its growing customer base which this year grew from 22 to 61 customers in various industries. Among them are YARX which created the Jungfrau-Marathon finisher videos (search for a number e.g. 1 or 16 to see the results) and Snipd with its podcast app video feature, both demonstrating the data-driven aspect of Remotion

The financing round of CHF 180’000 will enable the startup and its team of three to reduce the technical complexity of its product to make it accessible to more developers and allow them to create higher-quality apps with ease. With new templates, presets and components, developers can bring their video apps to market faster and will also be able to monetize them easily with the new building blocks that Remotion will provide.

Investors include gaming innovator Heiko Hubertz, design studio For One Red, React personalities William Candillon and Sebastien Lorber. Engineers from Spotify and Musixmatch, and customers of Remotion also participated in the round.