Clipto Raises $15M at $250M Valuation to Make Terabytes of Video

Generative AI has made content creation easier than ever—but it has also created a new problem: keeping track of it all. As videos, recordings, and documents pile up, tech giants like Adobe, Apple, and Google, along with a wave of startups, are turning to AI to make these files searchable. The big open question is whether this capability will blossom into standalone software or simply become a standard feature of existing products. Clipto, a San Francisco-based startup with teams in Singapore and Hong Kong, is betting there's room for a dedicated solution. The company has raised $15 million in an all-equity round at a post-money valuation of $250 million. Investors include HSG (formerly Sequoia China), GL Ventures, EnvisionX Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Hans Tung, Lu Zhang, and 522 Ventures. Clipto indexes videos, audio, images, meetings, and other files stored on a user's computer. Instead of digging through folders, users can search by describing what they're looking for—or simply ask ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI tools to locate it for them. This approach turns scattered digital assets into an easily searchable library. Founder Henry Kang has been tackling this challenge for nearly two decades. While a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon in 2006, he worked on robots that recorded their environment, identified objects, and remembered where they were. That idea evolved into his first startup, which used AI to organize users' closets and suggest outfits. His second venture, ZenVideo, streamlined video creation and was acquired by Tencent in 2020, Kang told TechCrunch. "The real insight is that in this AI era, we don't have a content shortage," Kang said. "The opposite is true. We have too much content. We have too much video footage sitting on our computers that isn't being used." Founded in 2023 with several members of his previous startup's team, Clipto was built around that observation. While other AI companies were focused on generating fresh material, Clipto set out to help users find and reuse what they already had. The initial product catered to video creators managing footage across multiple devices, but the user base has since expanded dramatically. Creators now make up only about a quarter to a third of users; the rest include lawyers, doctors, researchers, marketers, HR professionals, professors, and students. The traction is impressive: over 30 million people have used Clipto's products since launch, and the company counts hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers. While Kang declined to share exact subscriber numbers or average revenue per customer, he noted that a significant portion of subscribers remain active for more than two years. By early 2026, Clipto reached $15 million in annual recurring revenue and remains profitable on a net-income basis. The company employs just over 20 people across the Bay Area, Hong Kong, and Singapore. A recent development: about two weeks ago, Clipto added support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a standard that lets AI applications connect with external data sources. Access to indexed files requires the user's active request and authorization. When an AI app taps into Clipto's indexed data, it can only retrieve information within the scope the user specifies. And importantly, all processing happens locally on the user's device—no cloud services required, Kang emphasized. As of 2026, Clipto's local-first approach and MCP integration position it well in a crowded field, but the company faces stiff competition from both established tech giants and nimble startups. The question remains: will searchable media become a standalone category, or will it eventually be folded into the tools users already rely on? Clipto is clearly hoping there's still room for a dedicated player—and its latest funding round suggests investors agree.

via TechCrunch AI