Verblio acquires Automagical video-creation company

BOULDER — Verblio Inc., a Boulder-based content-creation firm, has acquired Automagical Inc., a San Francisco-based company that uses artificial intelligence to create video for any post or story. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Verblio, which formerly operated as Blogmutt, will supplement Automagical’s technology by using human beings in the video-creation process. Verblio has launched Verblio Videos, which allow content marketers to add video for any post or story, without breaking the budget.

“We loved what Automagical created,” Steve Pockross, Verblio CEO, said in a statement. “AI made video suddenly affordable. But there was a problem: to talk to people, you really need people. AI can manage the heavy-lifting of video creation, but it’s not great at nuance, or understanding double-entendres or emotion. To make a video any company would be happy to share really demands human experts with deep knowledge of a specific content area. Verblio already does that, so it’s an excellent fit.”

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Verblio Videos will cost $85 and will:

• Help content marketers effectively double the amount of outreach to customers and audience by easily adding curated and edited video to any written or social media content.
• Use AI for the time-consuming parts of video creation, such as basic storyboards.
• Add human subject-matter experts to make sure that both the content and the graphic and music choices match a brand.

Kevin Raheja, who co-founded Automagical and is an executive at HubSpot, said the acquisition by Verblio made sense.

“We discovered that AI can’t do really great video on its own, so we are delighted to see Verblio add its own technology, along with the human curation and editing services it already does so well, to help content marketers compete with anyone, with video,” Raheja said.

Video has long been touted as the next wave to help marketers reach their audiences on multiple platforms. “Verblio spent time figuring out how to deliver video that falls somewhere between tacky AI videos and highly produced, multi-thousand-dollar videos, at a price point even smaller companies can afford,” the company said.

“We’ve removed the pain of creating and publishing videos for digital marketers, and we’re excited to introduce the world to Verblio Videos,” said Paul Zalewski, Verblio vice president of marketing. “We use the best parts of AI and machine learning to handle the storyboarding process, and then put human beings back in control. It’s not Academy-Awards material — but it’s not mockable, robot-produced video, either.”

Verblio uses a network of 3,000 U.S.-based writers to create content in 40 industries.