Microsoft snaps up in-browser video editing software startup Clipchamp

Microsoft’s latest acquisition could add an easy-to-use video editing experience to its software suite. The tech giant has purchased a startup called Clipchamp, which is known for its in-browser video creation and editing tool. In its announcement, Microsoft says Clipchamp’s approach combines “the simplicity of a web app with the ability to process video using the full computing power of a PC with graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration,” which is “something that was formerly limited to traditional video applications.”

Clipchamp specifically targets non-professionals and non-creatives — people who don’t have or know how to use specialized software for videos, in other words. “Our mission is to empower anyone to tell stories worth sharing and millions of people around the world… We will continue to make video creation even easier, more accessible and fun,” company CEO Alexander Dreiling wrote in a post announcing the acquisition. 

Neither party has disclosed the terms of their agreement, but as CNBC notes, Clipchamp said in July that it has 17 million registered users with an adoption rate that’s up 54 percent year over year. The service saw huge growth in 9:16 aspect ratio exports, in particular, which are commonly used for TikTok and Instagram or Facebook Stories. Microsoft was one of its clients before the acquisition, along with Google. While Microsoft has yet to announce how it will offer Clipchamp to its customers, it called the tool a “natural fit” for its cloud-powered productivity experiences in Microsoft 365. A spokesperson also told CNBC that the tech giant will eventually introduce a process to convert existing Clipchamp users to Microsoft subscribers.