Fable

Video arguably conveys a message at a deeper level than any other mode of online communication.

With the advent of the iPhone, we saw a democratization of video creators and a massive new industry created. YouTube is on a $20 billion revenue run rate growing 32% YoY. That’s 2.5x the revenue of Pinterest, Snap, and Twitter – combined.

But the tools available for this creator community are still catching up. Motion design, in particular, has been left far behind, yet is one of the important ways to differentiate the quality and ultimate consumption of media. Just look at the most viral election map of 2020:

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Motion is everywhere: it’s a “how-to” video in an app you just downloaded, a GIF from a brand on Instagram, a 3D walk-through of a new home, and a title sequence in your favorite movie.

There are more than 45 million creative professionals today, and well over 300 million indie creators (from Etsy sellers to online yoga instructors) all seeking access to motion design tools. But existing solutions are woefully out of date. They require expensive hardware and monthly subscriptions out of reach for many. They have a steep learning curve that’s intimidating to new users. They are painfully slow to render, and lack the ability to collaborate with colleagues and clients – a core part of the creative process.

That’s why we are excited to lead an investment in Fable, a browser-based, motion design platform.

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Built natively for the web, it allows creators to collaborate and easily build in the browser. There is no software to install or keep up-to-date, files are accessible from anywhere, and projects are automatically backed up.

As Fable’s founder, Chris Boardman, describes it: “I quickly realized that creating content efficiently at a high level was near impossible. We needed to invent a way for creators to work together and to publish experiences directly–all without writing a line of code. From there, Fable was born –a tool that made motion easier for designers and worked right in a browser so projects could be accessed from anywhere by multiple creators.”

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to support Chris and this community. We’re also excited to work closely with our friends, including Michael Dearing at Harrison Metal, Shana Fisher at Third Kind Venture Capital, Chad Hurley co-founder and former CEO of YouTube, and Sumeet Gajri at Original Capital.