“The play button is the most compelling call to action on the web.”

Michael Litt, CEO and Co-Founder of Vidyard

Annoto's History

Annoto was created in 2016 in Isreal by founders Genadi Sokolov, Hen Eytan, Kirill Slavkin.

Since then, Annoto's targeted buyer consists of purchasing authorities in educational institutions (like OpenEdX, and various post-secondary institutions) or authorities in other corporations that use videos as a part of their business. Annoto's marketing and sales takes place largely at educational summits and business-related conferences.

Annoto has been receiving recognition for their product. Most recently, in 2022, they were selected as one of the world's most innovative EdTech startups by CSV ventures.

Rationale for this Analyst Report

Annoto is appropriate for an Educational Venture Analyst (EVA) recommendation because it is a unique product that offers unique benefits to its customers. It is still in its early stages and full of potential for growth. I came to chose Annoto for this Analyst report for two reasons: My personal experience with the company, and the opportunitiess ot explore elements of my upcoming 522 Venture pitch project.

I came across this tool in my work place as my e-Campus team (IIEP-UNESCO) was invited to a virtual pitch session by one of the founders, Kiril Slavkin. Ultimately, my team decided the cost was too high for the value offered to our training offer. Though I was able to follow the pitch process from start to finish as a stakeholder/"buyer", I thought this assignment would be a good activity to dive further into the analysis from an investor's perspective. I also see a lot of potential for growth because of the value of their product.

Then, in preparation for my venture pitch, I though this product could be relavent to my current research in the area of video conferencing presentations. For my venture pitch, I intend to focus on presentation of online live sessions and on incoporating design elements and interactivity into instructor's virtual presentations. Though it is not too similar of a product, the market research that was conducted for this analysis will inform some of the strategies I will propose in my own venture.