AI-powered video editing app Captions is rolling out a new tool for websites that manages their content publishing schedule for videos and even generates videos for those dates based on relevant topics to the site.
The tool first scans the site to pull content, keywords, service offerings, and key selling points of a site and creates a content plan. At the moment, the social media strategy is primarily focused on Instagram Reels and TikTok in the form of videos, which is unsurprising given that Captions specializes in video creation and editing. The company said it will explore other formats in the future.
The company believes the tool could help a small cafe spotlight chefs and items from a dish or generate videos about services offered by a dental clinic. The AI-powered social media manager also takes relevant seasonal trends into account.
In June, the startup launched a feature to create and edit videos automatically based on a prompt with 12 AI characters. The new tools use a site’s content and relevant trends as a place to create prompts and then videos based on that. Since this is a business tool, a seller can upload their profile to create a digital twin and have the AI tool create videos through that character. Plus, they can also apply their brand identity to videos, including custom colors, logos, and fonts.
When we asked Gaurav Misra, CEO of Captions, about AI-generated videos taking away authenticity from creators who put in effort to create content for their businesses, he said the tool is helping people who don’t have the means to create quality content themselves.
“I think, for this use case, these businesses are not trying to get viral. I think they want to have a presence online and they want something that people will understand about their business. And that’s kind of what we help people achieve here,” he said
Misra added that business owners already have a lot of tasks, and with this new AI social media manager, they don’t have to learn video recording and editing from scratch to create content.
Captions also said that, in the future, it will allow businesses to include more of their pages apart from the website so that the AI could create a better content plan.
In July, Captions raised $60 million Series C in funding from Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, and new investors — Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, and Jared Leto. The company plans to put this money into developing its own AI prowess.
“We have been around for three and a half years and we have raised $100 million in total. We have been cash flow neutral. Our goal with the raised funds is to actually invest in the AI side of things because I think the opportunity is huge,” Misra said.
“Anything you can capture on a camera today, you will be able to create through AI a few years in the future. And down the line, fidelity will also improve. Long term, generally what we’re trying to do is to create a world where you don’t have to physically record or edit videos in order to have something that you want to stay shared.”
The company is making this feature available to its Max, which costs $25 a month and Scale, which costs $70 a month paid plan users.