Clipto, a San Francisco-based startup that uses AI to make videos, audio, images and meetings searchable across a user's computer, has raised $15 million in an all-equity round at a $250 million post-money valuation. Rather than joining the wave of generative AI firms focused on creating new content, Clipto is targeting the growing problem of unmanageable file backlogs, letting users find footage and documents by describing them in natural language or via AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude.

The round was backed by HSG (formerly Sequoia China), GL Ventures, EnvisionX Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Hans Tung, Lu Zhang and 522 Ventures. Founded in 2023 by Henry Kang, whose earlier ventures included a wardrobe-tracking AI startup and ZenVideo (acquired by Tencent in 2020), Clipto has drawn more than 30 million users and hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers, with video creators now making up only a quarter to a third of its base. The company reached $15 million in annual recurring revenue in early 2026, says it is profitable, employs just over 20 people across the Bay Area, Hong Kong and Singapore, and recently added support for the Model Context Protocol so AI tools can query locally indexed files with user authorisation, competing against built-in search features from Adobe, Apple and Google.