Featured Startup Pitch: Wideo enables digital media novices to create custom animated video

By Agu De Marco, Wideo co-founder and CEO  

Elevator Pitch: Wideo.co is an online video creation platform that allows users to create, edit and share animated online videos for free. Wideo is the solution for user-friendly, custom and quality animated videos that anyone can create.

Product/Service Description

Wideo is a video creation platform that allows users to create, edit and share free animated videos. Wideo allows individuals who don’t have previous video making or design experience to easily create explainer videos, video presentations, video e-cards and more.

Here’s a preview of how Wideo works in one of our own videos: What is Wideo in 44 seconds—http://www.wideo.co/view/21366033769069-what-is-wideo-in-44sec

Founders’ Story

It all started when I desperately needed to create an explainer video for one of my business ventures, ‘Emprending.’ I didn’t have a lot of extra cash to spend, and basically zero experience in creating videos, so I performed extensive research on video production resources. I quickly realized there existed a need in the animated video creation world. If you wanted a video for your project or business, you were faced with two options—either pay a professional company thousands of dollars to create it, or use software programs that are extremely complicated and time-consuming to learn and use.

That’s when Agus and I came up with Wideo, a platform that would be able to provide a simple and intuitive way for people without previous video production knowledge to create quality animated videos. It’s not just a tool that gives us the ability to animate our thoughts and concepts; it’s a new form of communication.

Marketing/Promotion Strategy

Wideo’s marketing model is designed for segmented groups, with templates that relate to their interests. For instance, we have education templates, product demo templates, etc.

Wideo mainly targets users in the English-speaking market, but we also target users in Latin America, since we are based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We market the video platform in a three-tiered approach, targeting people with no video creation experience, those with an intermediate level of experience, and the professional users.

Even though it’s the same platform for each group, videos can range from simple animations to very complex, all depending on how the user wants it to be. Wideo is also marketed through the Google Chrome Store.

Market Opportunity

It’s no surprise that online video is on everyone’s radar. In June, 2013, 85.2 percent of U.S. Internet users watched 44 billion videos online. Wideo has more than 360,000 registered users from over 200 countries.

How We Differentiate From the Competition

There are other animation sites out there, such as GoAnimate or PowToon, but what sets Wideo apart from the rest is the control that users have with their videos. Wideo users can upload their own images or characters, control the keyframes, movements, literally everything with ease, while competitors lean towards more prefabricated templates and characters.

Business Model

We call our business model the freemium plan. Users pay for extra features such as removing branding, privacy and the download of their Wideo. Our model also includes contracts with companies for customization of the platform and customized services.

Current Needs

We are rapidly growing Wideo in the English-speaking U.S. and European market. Our goal is continue expanding the platform’s reach to our targeted three-tiered audience and to build upon the platform so that it is the simplest and best animation production platform of its kind.

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Headquarters: Buenos Aires

Website: www.wideo.co

Founders: Agu De Marco, Agus Esperon

Investors: 500 Startups, NXTPLabs, Fede Jack, Eli Altman, Edgardo Sokolowicz

Year Founded: 2012

AngelList: angel.co/wideo

Twitter: @MrWideo

Facebook: facebook.com/MrWideo

YouTube: youtube.com/user/MrWideoo

CrunchBase: crunchbase.com/organization/wideo