Forge raises $4.5M to make editing and sharing gameplay clips easy

Twitch and YouTube rule livestreaming and gameplay video. But one company sees a market for people who want to share smaller clips, and it’s raised a good-sized seed round to take advantage of the opportunity it sees.

Forge, Inc., has drummed up $4.5 million, it announced today. The sharing of gameplay has become huge on social media — and that’s thanks in part to Twitch, which has 100 million community members and 1.7 million broadcasters. But this is different than Twitch or YouTube — you can make a short clip of a full video (be it a Twitch livestream or a YouTube show) and share it easily on social media. It’s in a public beta test on PC now (sorry, Mac folks).

One clear use for Forge is esports, sharing short clips of decisive moments without needing to edit the video of an entire match. You won’t need to use Final Cut Pro or any other software to make the clips — Forge provides its own tools for this.. Or for a pro gamer to promote archived video of one of their livestreams from Twitch.

“Gaming and esports are powered by video clips shared online, and that’s where Forge really shines,” said CEO and founder Jared Kim in a canned statement. “With Forge, we make sharing your favorite gaming moments effortless. I’m excited to be working with True, Resolute, and WME Ventures, as well as all of our angel investors and advisors who have all been extremely supportive partners in this journey.”

True Ventures and Resolute Ventures led the round, and WME Ventures kicked in some funds as well. Angel investors include Vivek Paul (board member, Electronic Arts), Matt Mullenweg (Automattic), Jason Calacanis (Inside), Ryan Scott (Causecast), Hiten Shah, Jameson Hsu and Bob Ippolito (Mochi Media), ex-San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Harris Barton (a three-time Super Bowl champion), and Kirill Makharinsky.

“Jared is a great technical Founder with deep knowledge of the gaming industry,” said Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures. “We previously funded his company WeGame [acquired by Tagged] in 2007 and are thrilled to be backing him once again with Forge. The app has seen impressive traction thus far, and we are excited about the company’s impact on social gaming.”