Minute Media, a media company backed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs and known for platforms like Sports Illustrated, 90 Minutes, and The Players’ Tribune, announced on Monday that it is purchasing VideoVerse. VideoVerse is an Indian artificial intelligence company that enables broadcasters to extract sports highlights and produce new content from game footage. Its clientele includes major organizations such as the Indian Premier League, Women’s Premier League Cricket, FIFA+, as well as broadcasters like Nippon TV and Cubber TV.
Based in Mumbai, VideoVerse was established in 2016 by founders Vinayak Srivastav, Saket Dandotia, and Alok Patil. Investors in the company include Bluestone Equity Partners, A91 Partners (a fund launched by former Sequoia India executives), Alpha Wave, Evolvence India, and Moneta Ventures, with a total fundraising amount of $105 million so far.
Neither Minute Media nor VideoVerse have disclosed the exact valuation of the acquisition. However, sources told TechCrunch that VideoVerse was valued between $200 million and $250 million during its last funding round in 2023, and the acquisition price was reportedly within that range.
Asaf Peled, CEO of Minute Media, stated that acquiring VideoVerse marks the company’s largest acquisition to date, both in terms of deal size and the scale of the company acquired.
Minute Media has expanded primarily by acquiring other companies, including The Players’ Tribune, Fansided, Mental Floss, and STN Video.
Srivastav shared that VideoVerse initially developed several AI products, such as a tool for detecting smoking and drinking—helpful for India’s censor board in flagging scenes for film certification. The company also worked on object recognition technology, which was implemented on e-commerce platforms to identify products in videos. Eventually, the startup shifted its focus to developing video editing and recognition tools tailored to sports broadcasters.
“Back in 2016, Hotstar (now operated by Jio) was expanding and wanted a solution to automatically identify key moments in sports, especially cricket,” Srivastav explained about how the company entered the sports sector.
Within a few years, VideoVerse discontinued its other offerings to focus solely on providing video editing solutions for sports content.
The company operates on a SaaS model, charging clients based on the number of hours of footage they need to process. VideoVerse reports it has reached $65 million in revenue, boasting a healthy EBITDA margin between 35% and 40%.
Image Credits:VideoVerse
Prateek Sharma, Chief Strategy Officer at VideoVerse, said that the company has recently released new AI-driven tools that allow clients to set custom rules for automatically generating content. For example, a broadcaster covering a basketball game can create a compilation of all three-point shots made by a certain player and instantly share it on social media. The platform also now features AI-based translation, enabling sports properties to engage fans worldwide.
Sharma mentioned that even though the platform incorporates third-party AI models in its processes, the company relies on its proprietary core model to recognize significant moments during sports events.
Minute Media’s primary motivation for this acquisition is to leverage VideoVerse’s technology alongside its own publisher network, aiming to distribute content more effectively across sports properties and generate additional advertising revenue from this distribution.
According to Crunchbase, the sports media group has secured $260 million in funding and claims to reach over 200 million users monthly through its brands. It also offers a B2B content distribution platform that serves almost 500 publishers. Peled from Minute Media believes this acquisition presents a strong opportunity to create and monetize more content using VideoVerse’s platform.
“With VideoVerse joining us, we can present customers with our AI suite, providing valuable tools for content creation. Adding our distribution and monetization expertise maximizes the value we get from each piece of content,” Peled commented.
Minute Media now aims to attract more sports leagues in the United States to adopt its highlight-generation platform following the acquisition.
Several reports indicate that fans increasingly seek alternative forms of content beyond traditional coverage, especially on mobile devices. Minute Media is betting on AI-driven solutions to meet this demand. Peled noted that while the company is not currently raising funds, it may pursue additional financing in the coming months to support further acquisitions.
