VideoVerse acquires Reely.ai for AI-driven video creation

Video editing software firm VideoVerse has acquired Reely.ai, which uses AI to automatically create esports and gaming videos.

The price wasn’t disclosed. VideoVerse is a software-as-a-service platform and it is adding new capabilities in gaming and esports videos where demand for AI-driven content creation and distribution continues to grow, said Daniel Daniel Evans, CEO of Reely.ai, in an interview with GamesBeat.

Evans said the VideoVerse folks found the company and asked about an acquisition. VideoVerse had something similar in sports but not in gaming.

“They liked how we filled that gap,” Evans said. “We’ve spent so much time in the game space and built relationships with publishers and developers. We see a lot of opportunity to help studios get their content out to the community.”

Reely.ai uses AI technology tailored to gamers and streamers so it can streamline video content creation, automating the editing process by going through hours of video and surfacing the best moments.

Reely’s platform can automatically identify highlights and key moments within a game, simplifying the creation of highlight videos and sharing them across various social media channels.

“We are delighted to welcome Reely.ai to the VideoVerse family,” said Vinayak Shrivastav, VideoVerse CEO, in a statement. “This acquisition is a strategic step towards expanding our offerings and delivering enhanced solutions to our customers in the gaming industry. We are confident that the Reely team’s expertise and technology will be instrumental in our continued innovation within the video creation and distribution landscape. Our team is always on the lookout for innovative companies like Reely to help our customers leverage cutting-edge technologies to create engaging content and grow their audiences.”

Pivoting to esports and gaming

Reely.ai started in 2016 and Evans joined in 2020.

Evans said the company focused on using AI to automate the creation of real-time video clips, excerpted from longer videos. The team trained the AI to recognize highlights and extract metadata for sports teams. In the midst of the pandemic, however, sports events were canceled and so Reely.ai pivoted to focus on gaming and esports content, Evans said.

Evans became active on Clubhouse, where I met him as well as his colleague Maria Gonima, and he dove into the gaming space with the Game Industry Cocktail Hour events.

“I’ve always been a gamer my whole life. So it was a passion,” he said. “We spent those couple years building for the gaming community. We built the tech to create a clip instantly. We’re building towards essentially automating that process to where AI grabs the best moments and shares on social or populates your YouTube channel.”

At this point, the tech can watch an entire stream of gameplay video and come up with the highlights. In a six-hour stream, you might wind up with 250 highlights to review. Overall, Reely.ai raised $2.3 million.

Siddhant Bhandari, strategy lead at VideoVerse, said in a statement, “Innovation has always been the driving force at VideoVerse, and we are actively seeking out pioneering companies like Reely.ai to ensure we are at the forefront of AI-driven innovation in content creation. The VideoVerse team is excited about the prospect of continuing to enhance our offerings through future acquisitions.”

VideoVerse has already started integrating Reely.ai’s technology into its existing suite of solutions to expand and improve its capabilities in the gaming market. The company will provide advanced tools to players, streamers, and content creators looking to develop, share, and extend the reach of high-quality video content.

“Joining forces with VideoVerse was an obvious choice,” said Evans. “VideoVerse’s comprehensive expertise in short-form video creation and distribution, combined with the latest AI and ML technology, pairs perfectly with our real-time gaming solutions. This collaboration will generate immense value for teams and content creators. AI is experiencing a significant moment, and we are eager to merge our advanced video solutions to fuel innovation in the industry.”

While esports has its ups and downs when it comes to popularity, Evans believes that everyone wants to capture their best gaming moments, especially in a competitive context.

Evans noted that everyone is focused on making use of generative AI in this space. He noted that human editors can handle the load in sports. But he noted that with gaming, the sheer volume of content means you need to use AI to sort through it all and understand what you have.

“If you don’t have an AI strategy, or building towards that, you’re going to be behind,” Evans said.