Shade raises $14 million to simplify video search for creative teams

Creative and marketing teams often rely on cloud storage tools. However, these tools struggle to keep up with growing media libraries. As AI speeds up content creation, teams now manage larger volumes of video, images, and audio files. As a result, finding specific content has become more complex.

Against this backdrop, New York-based startup Shade is building a cloud storage platform designed for faster and more precise media search.

Funding and company background

The company raised $14 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures, Construct Capital, and Bling Capital in March. With this round, Shade’s total funding has reached $20 million. Other investors include General Catalyst, SignalFire, and Contrary.

Founded in 2024 by CEO Brandon Fan and CTO Emerson Dove, the company emerged from the founders’ experience with existing storage tools. They found that platforms like Dropbox were not designed for efficient media search at scale.

Why traditional storage tools fall short

Most cloud storage platforms focus on file storage and sharing. However, they offer limited capabilities for searching within large media libraries. This becomes a challenge when teams handle thousands of video files.

Moreover, users often need to download large files before editing them. This process can slow down workflows, especially in low-bandwidth environments.

How Shade approaches media search

Shade focuses on improving how teams search and interact with media files. Most importantly, it enables natural language search supported by automated tagging.

For example, users can search using descriptive phrases. The system then identifies relevant clips and highlights exact timestamps within videos. In addition, it transcribes video content, making it easier to search through spoken words.

The platform also allows search based on context, transcripts, and labeled individuals using facial recognition. As a result, teams can locate specific scenes faster.

Streamable storage for faster workflows

Another key feature is its streamable file system. Instead of waiting for files to download completely, users can begin working on them almost immediately.

This approach reduces delays, especially when dealing with large video files. Furthermore, users can pin files for access in low-connectivity conditions.

Compared to platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox, this reduces friction in daily workflows.

Collaboration and client delivery tools

Beyond storage, Shade supports team collaboration. Users can leave feedback directly on videos at specific timestamps. They can also attach files within comments to provide clearer direction.

In addition, the platform allows teams to create multiple shareable links with different permission levels. For client delivery, teams can generate branded collections with password protection and expiry dates.

Pricing and target users

Shade offers a subscription plan starting at $20 per seat per month. This includes unlimited drives, AI indexing, and 500GB of active storage per seat.

The plan supports up to 15 team members per workspace and allows collaboration with external users.

The platform targets agencies, sports media teams, brands, real estate companies, and podcast creators.

Competitive landscape and future plans

Shade operates in a growing category of AI-powered storage tools. Startups like Poly and Memories.ai are also building solutions for managing large media libraries.

Investors believe the opportunity lies beyond search. According to Khosla Ventures, integrating storage, indexing, and collaboration into a single system could improve how teams manage content workflows.

Looking ahead, Shade plans to expand its search capabilities across images, videos, and documents. It is also developing a no-code platform to help teams automate workflows without technical expertise.