Creating corporate training videos for software is a time-consuming ordeal, especially if you’re an organization with a lot of software licenses. Training videos can help get employees up to speed, but they’re a big lift. They often take entire teams to produce.
Tel Aviv-based entrepreneur Yoav Einav thought there might be an alternative, cheaper way to create software training videos. So he teamed up with a friend, Dan Sahar, to try to build it. In 2020, their project became a startup: Guidde.
Guidde uses AI to automatically create video clips that instruct viewers on how to use different applications. It works by capturing a user’s in-app activity, and then transforming the recording into a video with a “storyline.”
Guidde-created videos can optionally feature an AI-generated voice in a desired language, background music, and tags that highlight key aspects of a software app’s functionality. Guidde also offers basic video editing tools with effects such as motion transitions, frame timing adjustment, and cropping.
You might be wondering: Do people actually watch training videos? It’s a fair question. According to a 2019 Kultura survey, 67% of employees admit to not giving in-house training videos their full attention, instead skimming the videos or listening to them while doing something else.
Einav thinks it’s a two-pronged issue. Often, he said, training videos aren’t very compelling — the production quality isn’t particularly high. On top of that, the videos tend to be buried in tough-to-navigate interfaces.
That’s why, in recent months, Guidde has dipped a toe into video recommendations, launching a feature called Guidde Broadcast that delivers personalized content to a company’s staff. Einav described it as a “Netflix for organizations” — a way to drive software engagement by providing contextual, “just-in-time” training content within a user’s workflow.
Guidde is on a steady positive growth trajectory, according to Einav, having increased revenue by four times in the last 12 months. The company’s platform now serves over 100,000 users across 2,000 organizations, including American Eagle Outfitters, Carta, and Nasdaq.
This month, 35-employee Guidde secured $15 million in new funding in a round led by Qualcomm Ventures. Bringing the startup’s total raised to $30 million, the new cash will be used to expand Guidde’s localization tools, enterprise sales and customer success teams, and global market presence, Einav said.
“We have been able to weather the storm so far, and continue to take a conservative and humble approach to our finances — a strategy that has proven effective so far,” he added. “We believe that the future lies in a solution that seamlessly combines creation and delivery of highly engaging AI-driven and video-first content. Our goal is to lead this emerging category and set the standard for intelligent, immersive content experiences.”