Video editing startup Magisto closes $13M from Qualcomm & Sandisk

Video editing startup Magisto has closed a new $13 million round of funding that includes a pair of somewhat unlikely investors from the hardware technology world.

Magisto’s tool applies an algorithm to the process of editing a short personal video. It takes 10 minutes of video footage shot from a mobile device, five photos, and an audio track and then edits it down into a one-minute video clip. And while the startup began life as a video editing tool, it’s now more of a social network, and recently added new features that make it easier to convert a set of photos into a video along with music.

The new funding was led by Qualcomm Ventures and SanDisk Ventures with participation from Magma Venture Partner and Li Ka Shing’s Horizons Ventures.

“Qualcom is the mobile ‘brain’ of most cameras, and Sandisk is the digital film of our time, so having both on board makes sense for what we’re trying to do,” Magisto founder and CEO Oren Boiman told VentureBeat.

The investment does make sense, considering that Magisto’s technology may eventually get put to use within many of the hardware devices that Magisto would shine in — such as memory cards or native software in digital cameras.

“We definitely want to do [hardware integration partnerships],” Boiman said. “It’s on the table.”

Founded in 2011, the New York-based startup has now raised $18.5 million in funding to date.