Gif-like video service Coub secures $1m investment

Moscow startup Coub, Russia’s answer to Vine, has secured $1m of investment from two Russian venture capital funds, which it will use to develop its website, launch a mobile app and reach new audiences. Both Phenomen Ventures and Brother Ventures, which focus on internet and technology start-ups, will acquire a minority stake in the company.

Coub allows users to create looped videos of up to 10 seconds long with a continuous soundtrack to post on Vimeo, YouTube and other video-sharing social networks. Since launching in 2012, its audience has grown to eight million unique visitors each month, although almost three-quarters are from Russia. More than 50,000 coubs have been made, with the most popular, a video poking fun at film director Nikita Mikhalkov, attracting over three million views.

Coub co-founder Anton Gladkoborodov said: “We got very lucky with our initial investors. They believed in our project before it took off and we closed the deal just when we needed the money for further expansion. We have a cool product and a superb team. This investment will allow us to continue working at a comfortable pace.”

The competition for short-form video creation services has intensified over the past year. In June, Facebook launched a service within Instagram that allows users to create 15-second videos. The announcement came nine months after Twitter’s acquisition of Vine, a six-second looping video creation service.

The two brothers behind Coub, Anton and Igor Gladkoborodov, have made a successful career out of developing media projects in Moscow. They are best known for Lookatme.ru, one of the country’s most popular hipster websites covering youth culture. Coub was founded by the brothers along with developer Mikhail Tabunov who is currently chief technology officer at the company.

Phenomen was launched in April 2012 with $300m of funding from Dmitry Falkovich and includes in its portfolio projects such as Hailo, a UK-based taxi app. Brother Ventures, an investment vehicle created by Russian entrepreneurs David and Daniil Liberman, who launched Concept Space, a 3D computer-animated film studio based in Moscow and LA, in 2009.