Viibar

About Viibar

Originally established as Viibar Inc. in April 2013, the company has undergone a significant transformation, rebranding to VideoTouch Co., Ltd. on August 1, 2022. This name change reflects a strategic pivot from its initial business model to focus entirely on its new core product. The company was founded in Tokyo, Japan, by Yuta Kamisaka, a former commercial and television director who later worked at the internet services giant, Rakuten. His experience in the video production industry, where he observed systemic issues, and his subsequent marketing role at Rakuten, inspired him to create a new solution for video creators.

Initially, Viibar operated as a crowdsourcing platform for video production, connecting freelance video creators with corporate clients. The platform was designed to empower creators by giving them significant control over the design and execution of projects. This model attracted clients such as Yahoo Japan and Rakuten. A key early milestone was winning the Best Team Award from the Open Network Lab incubator in October 2013, which helped the company secure US$3 million in funding by February 2014. However, the company recognized limitations in the scalability of its crowdsourcing model.

In response to market demands for broader video utilization, the firm launched the "VideoTouch" platform in April 2021. This marked a fundamental shift in the company's direction. VideoTouch is an AI-powered video training platform designed for businesses. It enables companies to easily create, edit, distribute, and analyze video content for various purposes, including customer support, sales, employee training, and manuals. The platform aims to improve learning efficiency and reduce educational costs. In August 2022, concurrent with the rebrand, the company announced a JPY 700 million (approximately USD 7 million) fundraising round from Femto Partners and Plaid, Inc., to strengthen the VideoTouch product and business structure. This strategic pivot was completed with the sale of its original content production business to BitStar in April 2022.