Magisto

Magisto was founded by Dr. Oren Boiman, a computer scientist that graduated from Tel Aviv University followed by graduate work in computer vision at Weizmann Institute of Science. Through his work, Boiman developed a number of patent-pending image analysis technology that analyzes unedited videos and identifies the most interesting parts, which became the basis of the Magisto apps.[2] The system recognizes faces, animals, landscapes, action sequences, movements and other interesting content within the video, as well as analyzing speech and audio. These scenes are then edited together, along with music and effects, into share-worthy clips.[3][4]

Automatic video editing products have emerged over the past decade in order to make video editing accessible to a broader consumer market. Automatic video editing technology does the work for the user, eliminating the need for a deeper understanding or knowledge of how to use complicated video editing software. Muvee Technologies introduced autoProducer, the first PC-based automatic video editing platform, in 2001. Other solutions, including Sony’s MovieShaker and Roxio Cinematic, followed in 2002.[5] As smartphones and consumer video recording devices become more prevalent the need for an easier video solution has led to a renewed interest in automatic video editing.[6]

Some similar applications are Videolicious and Animoto.

The Magisto app contains a library of music for users to utilize in their video creations. The music, largely by independent artists, is sorted by mood and is licensed for in-app use.[7]

Magisto was founded in 2009 as SightEra (LTD) by Dr. Oren Boiman (CEO) and Dr. Alex Rav-Acha (CTO). Boiman was frustrated with the amount of time it took editing together videos of his daughter and wanted to design an easy to use application to capture and share videos without the time-consuming process of video editing.[8]

Magisto was launched publicly on September 20, 2011, as a video editing software web application through which users could upload unedited video footage, choose a title and soundtrack and have their video edited for them automatically.[9] On the following day Magisto was added to YouTube Create’s collection of video production applications.[10]

The Magisto iPhone app was launched publicly at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At CES, the company was also declared winner of the 2012 CES Mobile App Showdown. On August 28, 2012 Magisto launched the Android app on Google Play. On September 13, 2012 Magisto launched a Google Chrome App and announced Google Drive integration.

On March 7, 2013, Magisto claimed 5 million users.[11] Google listed Magisto as an "Editors’ Choice" on its list of "Best Apps of 2013".[12] In September 2013, the company claimed that 10 million users had downloaded the App.[13]

In February 2014 Magisto claimed that they had 20 million users, with 2 million new users per month.[14] The company also confirmed investment from Russian internet company, Mail.Ru Group. In September 2014 Magisto rolled out a new feature called, ‘Instagram Ready’ which allows users to upload 15 second clips that are automatically formatted for Instagram.[15] In the same month Magisto also launched  a new feature for iOS and Android users, called ‘Surprise Me’[16] which creates video from still photographs on users’ smartphones. In October 2014, Magisto was placed 9th on the 2014 Deloitte Israel Technology Fast 50 list, as one of the fastest-growing technology companies,[17] and was named as a finalist in the Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe award.[18] 

In January 2015, Magisto participated in a statistical analysis on the habits of smartphone users in conjunction with Gigaom.[19] In July 2015, Magisto released an editing theme dedicated to musician Jerry Garcia, endorsed by his daughter Trixie.[20]

In April 2019, the company was acquired by Vimeo, the IAC-owned platform for hosting, sharing and monetizing streamed video, for an estimated US$200 million.[21]

Magisto has a freemium business model: Users can create basic video clips for free. In addition, advanced business, professional and personal service tiers are available via various subscription plans, unlocking additional capabilities (such as longer videos, HD, premium themes), sophisticated customization and control features that improve the quality and precision of their AI powered editing.[25]

• Magisto won first place at Technonomy3, an annual Internet Technology start-up competition in Israel. Judges of the competition included Jeff Pulver, TechCrunch editor Mike Butcher, investor Yaron Samid, Bessemer Venture Partners Israel partner Adam Fisher and Brad McCarty of The Next Web.[26]
• Magisto won first place at CES 2012 Mobile app competition, during the launch of Magisto iOS mobile app.[27]
• Magisto was awarded twice the Google Play Editors Choice and was part of iPhone App Store Best App awards for 2013[28] and 2014, and Wired Essential iPad Apps.[29]
• Magisto was declared by Deloitte as the 7-th fastest growing companies in EMEA in 2016.[30]

• Official website