Wibbitz turns text into videos, investor pitches into $2.3 million in funding

Wibbitz, an Israeli startup that develops technology that automatically turns text into videos, has raised $2.3 million in funding from Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures – the investment vehicle of billionaire business magnate Li Ka-shing – and prior backers Initial Capital and lool Ventures.

Basically, Wibbitz lets website owners or publishers convert textual content into short, HTML5-based videos with voice-over narration that can be played across most connected devices, including tablet computers and smart TVs.

The service leverages advanced semantic text analysis technology that enables textual content to get summarized down to the essence. Wibbitz subsequently matches the best visualization(s) for the content using fully-licensed images and animated infographics.

The results aren’t half bad – check out the video below for an example.

The Wibbitz service is somewhat reminiscent of Qwiki, which has raised roughly $11 million in financing, although that’s more of a consumer play rather than a B2B service geared towards publishers.

The solution isn’t self-service, so publishers are required to get in touch with Wibbitz to integrate the technology into their websites.

Wibbitz says it will use the fresh capital to further commercialize its technology, expand its R&D team in Israel and set up an office in New York City.

The Israeli startup has raised close to $3 million in total to date.