It feels like short video clips from podcasts, songs and movies are everywhere on social media right now, and that’s not an accident. Brands have realized that the format offers a highly cost-effective way to market products.

Clouted, a startup that went through the a16z's Speedrun accelerator in 2024, is building the infrastructure to automatically handle both the distribution strategy and the logistics of the clipping process. The platform taps into a network of over 100,000 gig creators to edit clips, then uses AI to determine the best social media platform and target audience for promoting them.

Clouted co-founder and CEO Justin Banusing first applied the company’s technology to his personal passion: electronic music and festival production. As a longtime DJ, he used Clouted to promote and grow &Friends, a Manila-based electronic dance music and pop-culture festival that now draws over 20,000 people.

Clouted’s approach has caught investor interest. The startup just announced a $7 million seed round led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Gold House Ventures, Weekend Fund, Peak XV's Surge, and others. Unlike purely volume-driven marketing tools, Clouted doesn’t just chase high clip counts. Instead, its AI operates a continuous testing loop, experimenting with different formats and channel strategies to figure out what actually performs best.

The practical effect is that each campaign makes the next one more targeted and efficient, as the system accumulates data on what works. The result is that every campaign Clouted runs makes the next one faster, smarter, and more effective. The platform learns which formats win, which audiences convert, and which distribution channels compound over time.