OpusClip’s journey began with a realization: the demand for short-form video content was exploding, yet the process of creating and editing videos remained a daunting, time-consuming task. The startup’s founders, Young Zhao, Jay Wu, and Grace Wang, had already experienced the challenges of content creation firsthand while running a 500-person social media talent agency. They saw how many creators struggled with editing tools and how the demand for video content far exceeded the supply. Their goal was clear which was democratize video creation through AI.
The San Francisco-based company has now secured a $20 million strategic funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from existing investors DCM Ventures, AIGrant, and Millennium New Horizons. This brings OpusClip’s total funding to $50 million, enabling the startup to expand its team and invest further in AI research. The funding follows a year of rapid growth, with OpusClip surpassing 10 million creators who have generated more than 172 million clips, collectively amassing over 57 billion views. The company’s AI-powered platform extracts highlights from long-form videos and automatically generates short clips optimized for platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.
Young Zhao, co-founder and CEO of OpusClip, emphasized the company’s vision: “OpusClip was born from the idea that AI should empower creativity, not replace it. Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible adoption, with millions of creators and businesses leveraging our technology to make video creation faster, smarter, and more impactful. This new funding enables us to push the boundaries of AI-driven video editing even further.”
