VideoGenie is announcing Thursday that it has raised $2 million in funding that was led by Blumberg Capital and includes existing investors such as Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. With the funding, VideoGenie will be able to ramp up hiring, particularly in sales and marketing, to accelerate its growth.
VideoGenie makes it easy for brands to create social media campaigns in which they solicit videos from happy customers and share those messages with potential customers. Through the platform, brands can gather, manage and publish customer-submitted videos, turning them into humanized brand messages.
The key to VideoGenie’s platform is not just in providing a management platform, but in automating communication with the users uploading the videos. According to CEO Justin Nassiri, if a video is rejected, it allows the marketer to give a reason why, such as low lighting. That feedback is then shard with the user, who can resubmit the video later. It also gives suggestions for how to improve the videos that get uploaded.
VideoGenie’s advanced analytics then also enable brands to track conversions and other metrics. It can also automatically serve up the most effective videos. And social features not only allow brands to easily share customer testimonials through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but allow those who submit to share with their own friends.
The startup has essentially been bootstrapped since launching last May with some initial seed funding. Within eight months of operations, even without a dedicated sales person, it’s managed to reach breakeven. So adding some capital will do wonders for accelerating sales and marketing, as well as adding some more technical staff. The company has 10 employees and is based in Menlo Park. Customers include Levi’s, Intuit, Sony Music and the U.S. State Department.

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