Blackbird plc
Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD) is a London-listed cloud-native video editing platform serving broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms with a proprietary low-bandwidth codec, alongside elevate.io, a freemium collaborative video editor targeting the creator economy.
- Company typePublic
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Blackbird plc does
Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD) is a London-headquartered, publicly-listed cloud-native video technology company operating since 2000 (formerly Forbidden Technologies plc). Its core product, the Blackbird enterprise editing platform, enables frame-accurate, browser-based video editing and publishing for broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms using a proprietary low-bandwidth codec (2Mb/s) that claims up to 75% infrastructure cost savings and up to 91% lower carbon emissions versus on-premise workflows. The platform supports up to 18 video and 36 audio tracks, multi-cam workflows, and integration with AWS, Azure, YouTube, LiveU, and EVS; it is distributed via direct enterprise sales, the BP3 post-production partner program, regional distributors across 15+ countries, and embedded OEM integrations (notably EVS MediaCeption Signature and TownNews, the latter reaching 46 US TV stations).
The company operates a dual-product portfolio: Blackbird serves enterprise customers on quote-based annual subscriptions, while elevate.io — a browser-based collaborative video editor targeting founders, creators and small businesses — runs a freemium model with approximately 138,000 registered users but only ~1,000 paid subscribers as of Q4 2025. Revenue is concentrated in the legacy enterprise business (£807,650 reported in Q4 2025 with a £380,000 profit from legacy operations), while elevate.io represents a deliberate growth bet into the broader creator economy. The company raised £2 million in July 2025 to fund elevate.io, leaving ~12 months of runway, and is loss-making at the consolidated level (-188% net margin).
Notable enterprise customers include CBS19 News, Buffalo Bills (NFL), Buffalo Sabres (NHL), IMG, The R&A, The Voice UK, and Gold Rush, alongside technology partners EVS, TownNews, Deltatre, Tata Communications, AWS, Microsoft Azure, LiveU, and Google/YouTube. The company holds SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance certifications and received the London Stock Exchange Green Economy Mark in 2021 for deriving 50%+ of revenues from green products.
Blackbird plc firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Blackbird plc
- Legal name
- Blackbird plc
- Website
- https://blackbird.video
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD) is a London-listed cloud-native video editing platform serving broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms with a proprietary low-bandwidth codec, alongside elevate.io, a freemium collaborative video editor targeting the creator economy.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Blackbird plc industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Video Editing Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cloud Editing & Finishing Platforms (NLE in cloud, conform, color) (MPAHANAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Remote Review, Approval & Dailies (screening, annotations, version compare) (MPAHANAB), Cloud Data Platforms & Analytics Migration (BPAEACAI)
Keywords
Where Blackbird plc is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Blackbird plc business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription (Enterprise - Blackbird platform): Enterprise-grade cloud video editing platform sold to broadcasters, sports organizations, and newsrooms. Revenue generated from subscription contracts with enterprise customers. The company generated £807,650 in Q4 2025 revenue with a £380,000 profit from its legacy business while investing in Elevate division.
- SaaS Subscription (Creator - elevate.io): Next-generation collaborative video editing platform for creators and content teams with approximately 138,000 registered users and around 1,000 paid subscribers as of Q4 2025. The platform is working toward product-market fit with upcoming features including Epidemic Sound integration and AI video generation.
- BP3 Production Partnership Program: Collaboration with post-production facilities (BP3 partners) to provide Blackbird to TV programme creators globally. Partners include Envy, ClearCut, MSV Post, Evolutions, Halo, Ricochet, Env, and others.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise SaaS - Custom pricing based on organizational needs |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Blackbird plc product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Blackbird plc develops and operates cloud-native video editing and publishing platforms powered by a proprietary, lightning-fast video codec. Its flagship Blackbird platform serves enterprise broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms with frame-accurate browser-based editing, multi-cam and multi-track workflows, and rapid publishing to multiple destinations. The company's secondary product, elevate.io, is a browser-based collaborative video editor targeted at founders, entrepreneurs, small businesses and creators.
Product overview
Blackbird plc operates a dual-product portfolio: Blackbird is the enterprise-grade editing and publishing platform trusted by broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms for its speed, precision, and remote collaborative workflows; elevate.io is the next-generation platform designed for the fast-moving needs of creators and content teams. Both products are powered by Blackbird's proprietary cloud-native video codec technology and can be accessed entirely through a browser. Supporting these core products are specialized features including Blackbird Edge for media ingestion and publishing, JSON EDL export for NLE integration, and XML metadata export for workflow automation. The company also operates BP3, a production partnership program with post-production facilities worldwide.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Blackbird: Enterprise-grade editing and publishing solution trusted by broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms for speed, precision, and remote workflows.
- elevate.io
Products and services
- Blackbird Enterprise-grade cloud-native video editing and publishing platform for broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms. Supports rapid frame-accurate browser-based editing, real-time collaboration, multi-cam and multi-track workflows (up to 18 video tracks and 36 audio tracks), and instant publishing to multiple destinations.
- elevate.io Next-generation browser-based collaborative video editor for creators, content teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Features a freemium model, with upcoming integrations including Epidemic Sound music library and AI video generation capabilities.
- Blackbird Edge Media ingestion and publishing component of the Blackbird platform that handles multiple source types including RTMP, Zixi, and SDI capture workflows, with automated stream deletion and native AWS S3 API file scan support.
Quantifiable outcome
- Up to 4x faster editing compared to on-premise editors
- +10 more outcomes
Companies that use Blackbird plc
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Blackbird plc technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature9 records
Blackbird plc partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Epidemic SoundcoreIntegration of Epidemic Sound's royalty-free music library into browser-based video editor elevate.io. Users get direct access to search, preview and add tracks to their projects with licensing handled during export. Epidemic Sound owns all rights to its catalogue featured in content generating over 3 billion views daily. The partnership was described as early validation of elevate.io's unique approach to collaborative video editing.
- TownNewscoreTownNews integrated Blackbird into their platform enabling news networks to easily access, edit and manage broadcast video. All clipping and editing is from a web browser giving digital news teams immediate access to live broadcast content for frame accurate clipping. Blackbird is now used within TownNews platform by 46 US TV Stations across 24 states.
- EVScoreIPD-VIA Create web-based editing application built in collaboration with Blackbird, integrated into EVS' MediaCeption Signature end-to-end live PAM solution. Provides instant access to all content through browser-based interface. Users can work from anywhere and immediately view and push edited content to craft editors or distribute in broadcast quality.
- BP3 Production PartnerscoreBlackbird Production Partnership Program (BP3) collaborates with post-production facilities to provide Blackbird to all TV programme creators globally. Partners are carefully selected after meeting high levels of product training and customer service standards. Includes ClearCut, MSV Post/Tinopolis, Evolutions, Halo Post, Ricochet, Envy Broadcast, CorePost, Rapid Pictures, Radiant Post, Splice, Back2Back, The Edit, RunVT, Platform Post, Molinaire, and Gorilla Group.
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)supportingAWS listed as a technology partner and customer. Blackbird Edge supports native AWS S3 API file scan for ingest workflows.
- Tata CommunicationssupportingListed as a customer and technology partner in the media industry.
- LiveUsupportingTechnology partner for live video transmission. CBS19 News uses LiveU systems to feed back video from the field directly to the newsroom for editing in Blackbird.
- Google (YouTube)supportingYouTube API integration enables Blackbird to upload to users' YouTube accounts. Blackbird utilizes YouTube API services for publishing capabilities.
- Microsoft AzuresupportingListed as a technology partner and customer integration.
- DeltatresupportingDeltatre is a sports media technology partner that uses Blackbird as best-of-breed enterprise video editing platform. Group CTO Jon Hanford has provided testimonial endorsement.
- IMGsupportingIMG uses Blackbird for rapid publishing of British Open highlights to Twitter, achieving over 1.5 million video views. Also partnered at the 148th Open Championship with The R&A.
- CBSsupportingMajor broadcaster customer listed in customer logos including CBS19 News which uses Blackbird for breaking news workflows.
- NCSAsupportingListed as a customer partner in the media industry.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Blackbird plc competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Adobe (Premiere Pro / Frame.io): Adobe's Premiere Pro is the dominant professional NLE and Frame.io is the leading cloud collaboration platform for video — directly overlapping with both Blackbird's enterprise editor and its collaborative editing value proposition, with vastly larger R&D and distribution.
- Blackmagic Design (DaVinci Resolve): DaVinci Resolve is a widely adopted professional NLE with strong color grading and increasingly cloud-friendly workflows — directly comparable to Blackbird for broadcast and post-production editing use cases.
- Apple (Final Cut Pro): Final Cut Pro is a major professional video editing platform with deep penetration among independent creators and smaller post houses — overlapping with both Blackbird's enterprise base and the elevate.io creator target market.
- Telestream: Telestream offers video transcoding, workflow automation and quality monitoring tools used by broadcasters — adjacent to Blackbird's ingest (Blackbird Edge) and publishing infrastructure for live and file-based workflows.
Direct peers
- Avid Technology: Avid's MediaCentral and Media Composer are the incumbent editing platforms for broadcasters, newsrooms and post-production facilities — the exact buyer Blackbird targets with its cloud-native enterprise platform.
- EditShare: EditShare provides shared storage and collaborative media management for broadcasters and post-production — overlapping with Blackbird's enterprise workflow, asset management and multi-user editing capabilities.
- Vimeo: Vimeo's video creation, hosting and collaboration platform targets both enterprise teams and creators — overlapping with elevate.io's positioning for founders, small businesses and content teams.
Emerging players
- Vidyard: Vidyard provides cloud-based video creation, hosting and analytics for business and sales teams — overlapping with elevate.io's creator/small business go-to-market.
- Wochit: Wochit offers cloud-based video creation tools for newsrooms and content teams, similar to Blackbird's newsroom editing use cases (e.g., CBS19 deployment) for rapid production of social/video content.
- Descript: Descript is an AI-native collaborative video and audio editing platform targeting creators and content teams — directly comparable to elevate.io's positioning and increasingly relevant as AI features reshape collaborative editing.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat7 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Blackbird plc social profiles
Digital presenceBlackbird plc compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Blackbird plc financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Blackbird plc leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Blackbird plc funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Blackbird plc M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Blackbird plc
What does Blackbird plc do?
Blackbird plc develops and operates cloud-native video editing and publishing platforms powered by a proprietary, lightning-fast video codec. Its flagship Blackbird platform serves enterprise broadcasters, sports organisations, and newsrooms with frame-accurate browser-based editing, multi-cam and multi-track workflows, and rapid publishing to multiple destinations. The company's secondary product, elevate.io, is a browser-based collaborative video editor targeted at founders, entrepreneurs, small businesses and creators.
Is Blackbird plc a public or private company?
Blackbird plc is a public company. It is classified as public and is currently operating.
When was Blackbird plc founded?
Blackbird plc was founded in 2000. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Blackbird plc based?
Blackbird plc is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Blackbird plc make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription (Enterprise - Blackbird platform) is the primary driver. The others are saaS Subscription (Creator - elevate.io) and BP3 Production Partnership Program.
Who are Blackbird plc's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Adobe (Premiere Pro / Frame.io), Blackmagic Design (DaVinci Resolve), Apple (Final Cut Pro) and Telestream. Direct peers are Avid Technology, EditShare and Vimeo. Emerging players are Vidyard, Wochit and Descript.
Does Blackbird plc have an API?
No public API is recorded for Blackbird plc.
What industry is Blackbird plc in?
Blackbird plc's product category is Video Editing Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAHANAA, Cloud Editing & Finishing Platforms (NLE in cloud, conform, color), with a secondary code of MPAHANAB, Remote Review, Approval & Dailies (screening, annotations, version compare). Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7373.