"BlackRock and Goldman Sachs-backed media startup Minute Media, which owns properties like Sports Illustrated, The Players' Tribune, and 90 Minutes, announced Monday that it is acquiring VideoVerse, an Indian AI startup that lets broadcasters extract highlights and create content from sports footage. VideoVerse's clients include the Indian Premier League and Women's Premier League Cricket tournaments, FIFA+, and broadcasters Nippon TV and Cubber TV."
"Mumbai-based VideoVerse was founded in 2016 by Vinayak Shrivastav. The company is backed by Bluestone Equity Partners, A91 Partners ( a fund by former Sequioa India execs), and Moneta Ventures, and have raised $105 million in funding to date. While Minute Media or VideoVerse didn't provide a valuation for the deal, sources told TechCrunch that VideoVerse was valued between $200 million $250 million during its last round in 2023, and Minute Media's deal was in a similar range."
"Shrivastav said that in its initial days, VideoVerse built multiple AI tools, including one to detect smoking and drinking, which was helpful for the Indian sensor board to flag certain scenes for movie certification. It also worked on object identification and deployed that tech for e-commerce sites for identifying items in a video. "In 2016, Hotstar (which is now owned by Jio) was growing, and they were looking for a solution that could identify certain action points in sports and primarily in cricket," Shrivastav said about starting its sports journey."
Minute Media is acquiring VideoVerse, an Indian AI startup that extracts highlights and creates content from sports footage. VideoVerse serves clients including the Indian Premier League, Women's Premier League Cricket, FIFA+, Nippon TV and Cubber TV. VideoVerse was founded in 2016 by Vinayak Shrivastav and has raised $105 million from backers including Bluestone Equity Partners, A91 Partners and Moneta Ventures. Sources reported a valuation of $200–250 million in 2023 and indicated the deal sits in a similar range. VideoVerse pivoted from broader AI tools to focus on video editing and detection for sports broadcasters. Minute Media has expanded through strategic acquisitions across sports and media properties.
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